ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee criticised the Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Wednesday for failing to develop residential sectors in the I series.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which met at Parliament House, criticised the authority for not developing the partially developed I-11, I-12, I-14 – where partial development work is pending, and I-15.

Discussing the undeveloped I-15 sector, committee chairman Syed Khursheed Shah asked CDA officials why they had used funds collected for the development of the sector for other purposes. “Such a practice does not happen anywhere in the world,” he remarked.

The I-15 sector was reserved for low-income housing, but the CDA has failed to develop the sector despite receiving funds to do so. The authority has, however, partially completed the development of Park Enclave, a sector launched years after I-15 where the CDA has sold plots for up to Rs1.7 million.

During the meeting, CDA officials told the committee that a PC-1 for I-15 was approved in 2003 with a cost of Rs2.9 billion, but development work was not started. The CDA’s working paper stated that the PC-1 cost was revised to Rs8.4bn, and the revised estimate is under scrutiny.

Regarding I-11, CDA Member Engineering Shahid Sohail told the committee that the development of two subsectors was completed years ago, while the development of the remaining two subsectors would be completed in the next financial year.

I-12 development delayed

Mr Sohail and the CDA’s Director Planning Ijaz Sheikh also told the committee that development work in I-12 was delayed because of a flawed survey.

The committee was told that the PC-1 for the sector was approved in 1996, at a cost of Rs1.4bn, and work to construct major roads and drainage was taken up in 2015-16, 76pc of which has been completed.

The CDA officials said that while developing the roads, they learned that a flawed survey had been carried out for the sector because in some pockets the planned plots were elevated significantly above the roads and in others plots had been in depressions.

“Because of the faulty survey, work was stopped and we are conducting a fresh survey through the Survey of Pakistan,” Mr Sohail said.

The PAC directed the CDA to furnish records of tenders for contracts to construct major roads and the survey. The committee members also expressed surprise that the CDA officers learned about the flawed survey after awarding a contract for the roads.

I-14 was also discussed earlier in the meeting, and CDA officials told the committee that there had been issued regarding land possession for the construction of service roads.

“This sector is a developed sector, but because of adverse possessions of land there were some issues in the construction of some service roads,” Mr Sohail told the PAC.

PAC member Mahmood Khan Achakzai, in response, asked why state land was being encroached upon in Islamabad.

He said without the involvement of government officials, state land could not be occupied by the qabza mafia.

The committee also directed the CDA to furnish complete details of its land under illegal occupation.

Mr Shah expressed displeasure over the absence of CDA Chairman Usman Akhtar Bajwa, saying that PAC means the parliament, and no government official could skip meetings without prior requests.

He was informed during the meeting that the chairman was going to end the meeting, but had to instead attend a Supreme Court hearing.

“When we start ordering the arrest of bureaucrats, then they would ensure their presence,” Mr Shah said.

The committee also expressed displeasure over the preparation of CDA officers for responses to members’ queries for the aforementioned sectors, and decided to take up the issues at the next meeting.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2018