ISLAMABAD: The Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) has purchased over Rs15 million worth of substandard machinery and equipment, and has already made the payment for more than half this amount without checking the status of the machinery acquired.

“It is unbelievable; we released the full payment for the horticultural machinery worth nearly Rs8 million in June, while the orders to stop payment for the machinery and batteries came in July,” an MCI official told Dawn.

According to documents available with Dawn, the MCI’s environment directorate had purchased horticultural equipments worth Rs7.9 million rupees, and all payments for these were released in June.

Sources said that most of the items acquired did not meet the required standards, alleging that MCI officials deliberately omitted mentioning the proper specifications of the equipment required, giving the contractor room to supply sub-standard material.

Officials stop payment one month after full price was paid to contractor for horticultural equipment

The environment directorate had purchased cutting blades, automatic lawn mowers, automatic chainsaws, two stroke engines, hedge cutters etc that were required to be “foreign made”, making no mention of their technical requirements or country of origin.

Separately, the environment directorate also purchased 124 sub-standard batteries for golf carts that ply inside the premises of Lake View Park and Daman-i-Koh, for a total cost of Rs8.6 million. However, the civic agency has only released Rs1m for the batteries.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, Director General (Environment) Dr Sheikh Suleman formed a three-member inspection committee, which is yet to complete its task.

“The committee is constituted to inspect the supply of horticulture machinery and batteries for golf carts and before release of any payment the committee shall verify/certify that the horticulture machinery and golf carts have been supplied strictly in accordance with the specification as given in bill of quantity,” the DG’s letter said.

In the words of an MCI official: “This is a corruption scandal, but some MCI officers are trying to sweep this scam under the rug.”

A month after making the full payment to the contractor for the horticulture machinery, the civic agency took action, directing that, no payment will be released without inspecting the materials acquired.

“I will look into the matter and if corruption is established, strict action will be taken against the guilty officers,” Mayor and acting CDA chief Sheikh Anser Aziz told Dawn.

When contacted, committee head Mohammad Irshad told Dawn the body had been working on this assignment. “We have also written to CDA’s directorate of electrical and mechanical services to help us check the status of the horticultural equipment and batteries,” he said.

In a document dated Aug 29, issued by the DG (Environment), it was stated that the Lake View Park manager and director (environment) had reported that the batteries supplied for golf carts in Rawal Lake and Daman-i-Koh were of local origin and did not meet the required specifications.

|This state of affairs is tantamount to financial indiscipline and misconduct on the part of the concerned officers,” read the letter.

The DG has also ordered strict disciplinary action against all the officers guilty of this financial indiscipline.

“Yes, these two issues are under scrutiny. I have already ordered action against the contractor for providing substandard batteries, and after the inspection committee finalises its report, we will look at the issue of horticultural equipment,” the DG said.

He claimed he was unaware that the full payment for the horticultural equipment had already been released, but was confident that it could be recovered from the contractor.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2017