ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: With seven months left till the start of the next fiscal, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has in its hand a mere Rs900 million out of Rs22 billion sanctioned for 2011-12.

The figure came from the civic agency's outgoing finance member, Saeedur Rehman, on Friday when he was enquired about the balance that the CDA was left with for the rest of the year. He replied: “It's Rs400 million and there is some additional amount with the federal government, that's another Rs500 million.”

Mr Rehman's statement comes at a time when the authority is struggling for financial survival and has launched two housing society schemes – Park Enclave and Margalla Retreat – to generate funds.

When probed about where the money allocated to the CDA had spent, he said: “We are not like the railways or any other (government) department. During my stint everything was done by the book. We paid salaries to the employees on time. The contractor's association and the CDA union officials were happy because of me – their payments were never blocked.”

However, according to an official, when CDA Chairman Imtiaz Inayat Elahi took over the reins of the civic agency they had around Rs3 billion, but payments were only released under political pressure to powerful contractors.

Furthermore, under Mr Rehman's tenure, the cost of different projects escalated within their completion duration.

Take for instance, the Zero Point Interchange (ZPI). When the project began in Sept 2008, its cost was set at Rs2.27 billion but three years on, it stands at Rs4.15 billion.

Similarly, the cost of Lehtrar Road Project, started in 2009, jumped from Rs581 million to Rs1.27 billion.

In other words, the ZPI cost escalated by almost 83 per cent while that of Lehtrar Road by 119 per cent. “It's not my fault if the costs of the projects have risen. Ask the member engineering,” insisted Mr Rehman.

The outgoing finance wing in-charge is not new to courting controversies. He was recently in the limelight for his alleged involvement in the NLC scam.

In July this year, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recommended stern action against the entire top brass of the NLC, including three retired military generals, for causing heavy losses to the organisation.

Mr Rehman was one of the two civilians in the cell's management who looked after the finances.

“I have done nothing wrong. I went to the PAC in person to clear my name but the chairman, Mr Chaudhary Nisar, never heard my presentation. Had he gone through it, all the allegations leveled against me would have been cleared,” Mr Rehman defended himself.

Meanwhile, Ramzan Sajid, the CDA's spokesman, in his statement to Dawn stated: “Mr Rehman has 'stepped down' and Javed Jahaghir, an official of the audit and accounts, has been appointed as the new member finance as per the notification of the Establishment Division. The new member finance would take over the charge of the finance wing on Monday.”

The spokesman did not make any comment about rumours about Mr Rehman being sacked.— Imran Ali Teepur