KOHAT: Traders have demanded of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to order action against the Kohat TMA officials and a contractor for inordinate delay in construction of a commercial plaza, as they had invested their hard-earned money to get shops in the building.

The construction of the Kotal Plaza, which is being built on the site of the old jail in Kohat city, had started in 2010 and was to be completed in 2011, but the contractor left the work halfway and fled to Punjab after taking huge money from the traders, complained the affected shopkeepers.

Mr Rasheed, who owned three shops in the plaza, told Dawn on Monday that the businessmen had been holding talks with the TMA officials to ensure completion of the project, but to no avail.

He alleged that more than half of the space at the site had been rented out to Afghan refugees for placing handcarts there by TMA. He said that if the business community was not provided the promised facilities in the plaza, they would be forced to withdraw their premium money with interest.

Sources said that the plaza was to be constructed on built, operate and transfer basis.

Ask CM to order action against TMA officials and contractor for ‘corruption’

They revealed that the TMA had promised to construct 240 shops and 160 offices in the three-storey building spread over 890 kanals of land.

But, the contractor after receiving money from the shopkeepers through middlemen fled to Punjab leaving the work incomplete.

The sources said that traders were charged Rs1 million for a shop whose market prices was no more than Rs400,000.

Another trader, namely Khalid, said the TMA demanded Rs1.1 million from him for having a shop instead of the market price of about Rs500,000.

Mr Khalid said that the TMA had also conducted an inquiry into the wrongdoings, but the probe failed to fix responsibility and punish the culprits. He said that had the plaza been completed on time, the TMA would have earned Rs500 million profit.

WORKSHOP: A workshop was organised here on Monday to make the officials of the concerned departments aware about the concept of accountability in the procurement process.

It was organised by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (KPPPRA) and attended by the local administration officials and heads of line departments of Kohat, Karak and Hangu districts.

The participants were briefed on the Public Procurement of Goods, Works and Services Rules Act, 2014.

KPPPRA consultant Dr Fida Noor Rehman, while highlighting the salient features of the act, briefed the participants about the fundamentals of procurement, accounting, and public procurement management.

KPPPRA enforcement manager Mohammad Qasim Khan spoke about the need for procurement reforms and new rules for ensuring transparency in the procurement process.

He also highlighted the objectives, functions and powers of the authority.

Speaking on the occasion, Kohat division commissioner Syed Jamaluddin Shah termed the introduction of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Procurement Rules Act, 2014 as an exemplary step towards making procurement process corruption free and transparent.

He directed the heads of line departments to implement the act in letter and spirit.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2014