ISLAMABAD: Built 10 years ago to showcase the work of artists, artisans, folk performers and young talent, the Art and Craft Village today stands as an unfulfilled dream in the picturesque environs of Shakarparian.
It is more a sad commentary on the managerial skills of its builder - the Capital Development Authority, which spent Rs386 million on the good but wasted project.
Only an art gallery is a permanent feature in the vast facilities built with that money on expansive 23 acres of the village. The space becomes alive when some activity takes place in the next door Pak-China Centre.
CDA developed the village in 2005 as part of the official efforts to project a soft image of Pakistan. But the city managers took the easy way to outsource the job to the private sector to run the village, as they had done with Saidpur Village, CDA’s other cultural showpiece.
“For various reasons the (Art and Craft Village) facility could not be properly utilised,” said Asif Shahjahan, director general, sports and culture, CDA. “However, we are now working hard to operationalize it as soon as possible.”
That did not happen under the Indus Heritage Trust (IHT), a conglomerate of various Non Government Organisations, which won the contract to run the village in 2005. CDA revoked the contract in 2012 after it discovered ‘irregularties’ committed in awarding the contract.
“Investigations by the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency into the civil work that followed further delayed organising the management of Art and Craft Village. But now we are very serious to make the facility functional,” the CDA official said.
Other sources, however, questioned his positive tone.
“They (CDA bureaucracy) are interested only in implementing project, not much in running them,” confided an insider, recalling that several CDA officials had to face charges of misuse of authority and embezzlement of funds in the civil work of the village.
Last December, he said, the CDA decided to issue licenses to artisans and artists to streamline the village and its chairman formed a Governing Management Committee tasked with formulating Standard Operating Procedures and Terms of Reference etc for the award of licenses and to run day-to-day affairs of the village.
“Despite the lapse of several months, the committee has not met even once. No one seems interested in utilizing the facility,” said the insider.
The Art and Craft Village has shops, Exhibition Hall, Design Centre, Artisit Studios, Students Hostels, Amphitheatre, Open Air Entertainment space, Children Play Areas and Park Areas, Regional Pakistan food cenrtres, Chai Khanas, Artisans Hostels etc – all lying vacant.
Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2015
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