ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) board on Thursday scrapped the garbage collection contract, terming it faulty and being awarded in a fraudulent manner.

The CDA board headed by Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed took the decision after receiving an inquiry report which pointed out that the contract had been awarded to an ineligible contractor in a fraudulent manner and on the basis of fake documentation.

However, the board members said the civic agency had finalised temporary arrangements to collect garbage.

“Since the inquiry report pointed out corrupt practices, we decided to discontinue the contract otherwise we can face inquiries in future,” said a board member while talking to Dawn.

He said the workforce engaged with the contractor would be asked to continue working under the CDA instead of the contractor till the new contract is awarded.

The CDA board also decided to refer the case to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe the alleged fraudulent contract.

Says contract was faulty and awarded in a fraudulent manner

The sanitation directorate was part of the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) and handed over to the CDA in October last year.

However, a month before its shifting to the CDA, the MCI then headed by Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz awarded the contract against Rs650 million per annum to a contractor.

Sources said in the inquiry report it transpired that the contractor could not arrange machinery as per the agreement and started the work on the basis of a letter of intent.

Besides, he was awarded contract on the basis of experience letters which were allegedly fake.

The CDA ensures cleanliness of the city through its own employees and a contractor. The contractor manages G-6, G-7, G-8, G-9, G-10, G-11, I-8, I-10 and highways while other parts of the city are handled by the civic authority’s own employees.

The contractor is supposed to have 1,290 workers and his own machinery. The contract was only for urban areas. However, sources said the board was told that the contractor did not have his own machinery rather in violation of the terms and conditions was using rented ones.

On the other hand, sources said the CDA had already announced tender for hiring a contractor and the board decided to extend the date for opening of the tender from March 1 to 8. The contract’s scope will be extended to both urban and rural areas.

The CDA officials said the contract would be for one year and the civic agency would explore options to end the contractor based garbage collection system and instead hire own staff for this purpose.

A CDA officer said due to mismanagement by the CDA contractor, bot the janitors and citizens suffered as the sanitation staff often went on strike to get their salaries.

He said CDA should hire services of janitors and they should work directly under the CDA with pay protection.

“We are one of the largest organisations in Islamabad so hiring own staff and purchasing machinery should not be a big deal for us,” the officer said.

The MCI had awarded the contract to a Lahore-based company last year by stating that the company submitted lowest bid of Rs650 million, almost Rs100 million lower than the previous contract.

A representative of the company told Dawn that they won the contract through a competitive process after fulfilling all formalities.

He claimed that there was a cartel of three companies that had been winning the contract for long against higher rates but for the first time they lost and had been misleading the CDA since then.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2021