ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered a case against six officials of Capital Development Agency (CDA) on the charge of having contributed towards irregularities in development work of I-12.

A source said FIA, on the complaint of CDA Human Resource Development Director Fiaz Ahmed Watto, registered a first information report (FIR) dated Feb 9 against the six officials and a contractor.

The complainant shared a fact-finding report with the agency which stated that work on construction of service roads East, West and North was awarded to a contractor. Subsequently, the file was given to the competent authority with the proposal for variation in works.

As per the report, after the letter of intent was issued, changes were made in the design without following the prescribed procedure and receiving approvals.

Variations proposed in development work even prior to signing of the contract agreement created doubts which required a probe against relevant officers of the engineering wing and the contractor, it stated, adding the first installment of the mobilisation advance was released without proper approval allegedly to benefit the contractor.

It added that the variation order was prepared for payment without prior acceptance or signing of a contract agreement.

According to the FIR, during the course of inquiry, it has been established that then director (sector development) recommended adoption of the design of another culvert for the four roads in question and this was never referred to the design wing of the CDA.

Subsequently, the member engineering allegedly illegally accorded approval for adoption of the design without seeking approval from the design wing.

The FIR said officers of the CDA in connivance with the contractor also unlawfully changed the concrete specification from Class A-I to Class A-3 without approval from the directorate concerned. The FIA registered an FIR against the former member engineering and five other officers of the engineering wing.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2022