The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration has spent Rs2.18billion on 103 projects and split them into smaller schemes to avoid approval from National Economic Council (ECNEC), according to an audit report.
According to the report, the Islamabad Development Package (IDP) prepared 103 health, education, and rural development schemes for Islamabad from 2006 to 2013 and split them into smaller schemes to avoid needing to send approval requests. These moves were deemed irregular and unauthorized by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).
The report pointed out that Rs4.3 billion was allocated for development schemes, Rs3.149 billion for education, Rs740 million for rural development, Rs282.2 million for health, and Rs128.4 million for supply of gas. However, the ICT administration split up some of the projects in an unauthorised manner.
The audit observed that an umbrella PC-1 for the entire Rs4.3 billion programme was not prepared. The report said the ICT administration replied that the PC-1 for all schemes executed under IDP were approved by the Islamabad Development Working Party (IDWP) and executed under the close supervision of a steering committee duly approved by the prime minister.
An umbrella PC-1 for Rs4. 3 billion worth of projects, completed and ongoing, was sent to the interior ministry in November, 2012.
The AGP report says that the ICT Administration accepted the audit observation, but internal discussions on the issue via a departmental accounts committee were not held till the report was issued.
Unauthorised ANF payments
Auditors also declared the Rs119 million paid out to informants and raiding parties by the Anti Narcotic Force (ANF) “irregular and unauthorised”. According to the report, the ANF paid half the money to informants and a quarter to the raiding parties, while the remaining 25 per cent was deposited in its welfare fund. The report pointed out that the payments were made on the basis of lab testing reports issued by laboratories which were not notified for the purpose.
According to the report, the ANF reply stated that the lab testing reports were signed by government analysts, as government labs at federal and provincial level could not be established due to the ongoing economic crunch.
Payments distributed
| Cities | Informers | Raiding parties | Welfare fund | Total |
| Rawalpindi | 3.098m | 1.54m | 1.54m | 6.19m |
| Quetta | 27.1m | 13.5 | 13.5 | 54.2 |
| Lahore | 1.53m | 0.76 | 0.76 | 3.06 |
| Karachi | 16.13m | 8.06 | 8.06 | 32.2 |
| Peshawar | 11.6m | 5.83 | 5.83 | 23.3 |
| Total | 59.52m | 29.76m | 29.76m | 119.048m |
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2014.
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