ISLAMABAD, June 18: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has increased its budget from Rs29 billion last year to Rs33 billion for the fiscal year 2013-14, and has an ambitious plan to generate Rs20 billion by launching three new sectors.

“The authority has reserved Rs2 billion for the development of residential sectors C-15, C-16 and I-12,” maintained a senior official of the treasury wing, requesting anonymity.

“We are also expecting a revenue of Rs18 billion from the sale of residential plots in these sectors and the sale of commercial plots in Blue Area and I-12 (Twin City Saddar Market) which would be launched by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,” the official claimed.

Sector C-15 is spread over an area of 469 acres while sector C-16 covers 922 acres, thus providing the civic authority with a huge earning opportunity.

He said the authority was expecting additional revenue of Rs2 billion from the sale of commercial plots in Park Enclave and from Sector E-12 which has been in limbo for almost two decades.

The official maintained the authority’s earnings were still dependant largely on the sale of land and could not find alternative revenue generation streams.

He said Rs10 billion had been reserved by the authority’s finance division for non-development expenditures, even though in 2012-13, Rs10.50 billion had been allocated.

“Almost Rs500 million have been slashed from non-development expenditures because we are facing a severe financial crisis,” the official said.

The cut of Rs500 million has decreased the budget allocated to the offices of CDA chairman and board members – member administration, finance, estate and environment. “A 30 per cent cut has been made on fuel and entertainment allowances, vehicle maintenance grants and mobile phone bills,” said the official.

Furthermore, the authority has maintained a monthly budgetary allocation of Rs410 million for the salaries of its employees.

“The previous government had inducted around 4,000 employees from 2008 to 2013 on contract basis and daily wage positions from grade 1 to grade 19 last year. The bill for these had been Rs400 million,” said an official of the human resource department.

Additionally, the federal government has allocated Rs2 billion for a number of CDA projects under the Public Sector Development Projects (PSDP).

“The PSDP allocation in the federal budget would be spent on the expansion of the 3rd and 4th lane of the Kashmir Highway, the installation of lifts in Pak Secretariat (worth Rs10 million) and Rs10 million for the repair and maintenance of the Parliament House,” the official said.

An official of the finance wing said the government had also allocated Rs49 million to ensure the security of major parliamentary buildings such as the parliament house and the parliament lodges.

This was confirmed by an official of the Planning Commission, who said, “We have decided to allocate Rs49 million for the installation of security equipments such as CCTV cameras and electronic gates.”

He said the federal government had reserved Rs980 million for the 104 suites of the additional parliament lodges which were currently under construction, and Rs1.8 billion had been allocated under maintenance grants.

“The government has also allocated Rs100 million for the construction of additional blocks in the Senate and National Assembly.

A finance wing official explained that maintenance grants were allocated for the maintenance and repair of CDA buildings, vehicles and residences of federal government employees.

“The grant mainly goes to the engineering and environment wings,” he said. Another official of the treasury wing said the authority would generate Rs800 million from taxes.

However, the authority’s electricity woes are likely to continue in the upcoming financial year, as the CDA, according to an engineering wing official, is paying Rs120 million on a monthly basis for the 65,000 lamp posts located in the city.

“The electricity bill could not be managed properly since we have to pay the Islamabad Electric Supply Company on a monthly basis. A delay of two months leads to a blackout in the city,” the official said.

When approached, the CDA spokesman Malik Saleem said the budget was yet to be approved by the CDA Board.

“The budget is likely to be announced by the chairman in the last week of June,” he said, but did not share any figures and refused to comment on the civic agency’s budget allocations.

However, the CDA’s expected budget is provided in the table.