LAHORE, Sept 12: The Civil Aviation Authority has constituted a committee to ascertain the causes of failure of a Rs16 million project awarded to the Parks and Horticulture Authority to carry out plantation, grassing and mud throwing around the new Lahore airport.

The committee, comprising the CAA and Nespak officials, will give its findings in two weeks. It will also assess whether the PHA, which is demanding Rs11 million for the completion of a part of the project, has actually spent the money it claimed.

The CAA awarded the contract to the PHA in 2001 for developing the airport premises. However, it ditched the project, the CAA officials told Dawn, revealing that the cost demanded by the PHA did not match the substandard work.

CAA (project director) Brig Tauseefuzzaman also expressed serious concern over the work, and said the authority had paid Rs3 million to the PHA so far, out of Rs11 million claimed by it. He said any more amount would be given only after completion of the probe.

The PHA, which started work on the project in the middle of 2002, has allegedly used substandard material in grassing, plantation and mud throwing.

Sources said the PHA officials concerned had selected the contractors of their liking, who used to provide substandard material against higher rates. Besides, he said, the PHA officials concerned also supplied poor quality mud and plants from its nurseries, which were apparently being supplied through fake contractors. “This is a simple method of appropriation of funds by the PHA officials concerned,” they alleged.

The PHA officials, on the other hand, claimed to have informed the CAA that the project could be completed in a better way, if the new airport had not become operational this year.

They claimed that the authority had to work under a foreign consortium at the airport, which often hampered the work as special permission had to be sought from it to carry out the job.

A senior CAA official told this reporter that they wanted to assign the job to a private sector, but the PHA’s reputation enticed it to consult the authority. He said the committee was likely to recommend a strict action against those responsible for the failure of the project.

The project was initiated when Kamran Lashari was the PHA’s director-general. Overlooking its prime function of maintaining parks and nurseries, the PHA has allegedly taken to other activities to generate funds.

PHA Director-General Shabbir Ahmad was not available for comments despite repeated efforts by this reporter.