RAWALPINDI: Even almost two years after the formation of the elected board, the Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) could not launch any development scheme in its civilian populated areas.

In the elections held in April 2015, public representatives were elected in the 10 wards of the CCB but issues such as water shortage, sanitation etc., in the civilian populated areas are yet to be resolved.

A senior official of the CCB told Dawn that the revenue of the civic body was not enough to launch any development work while the federal government did not provide funds.

He said the CCB had requested the elected members of the cantonment board to approach the federal government for the release of additional funds but they failed to do so.

He said main commercial markets fell in the jurisdiction of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB). “The CCB requested the Military Lands and Cantonments to give some portion of the Saddar area to the CCB so that it would earn revenue from commercial property taxes and billboards but the request was turned down.”

After elections in 10 wards, cantonment board could not launch any project due to lack of funds

He said Ayub National Park was the property of the CCB but it was handed over to the Army Heritage Foundation during the tenure of former president Pervez Musharraf.

The official said the total budget of the civic body was Rs1.551 billion for the fiscal year 2016-17, out of which Rs437.479 million were spent on salaries and allowances of the staff. Around Rs455 million were allocated for contingencies and Rs293.275 million for miscellaneous expenditures. An amount of Rs135 million was allocated for the maintenance and repair work, leaving the civic agency with no funds to construct roads, streets, install tubewells or lay water supply lines.

He said the civic body was expected to generate Rs596 million taxes but it failed to achieve the target in the seven months of the current fiscal year. He said mostly retired government officials were living in the posh localities but they were exempted from taxes. Taxes collected from small houses were not enough to meet the expenditures, he added.

When contacted, CCB Vice President Raja Irfan Imtiaz admitted that there was a shortage of funds but the board was trying to improve its monetary situation.

“We could not launch any mega project in the cantonment area as the federal government did not release additional funds. We need funds for water supply schemes, construction of roads and streets. We repeatedly requested the government for funds but to no avail,” he said.

However, he added, the CCB had started some schemes such as the construction of two higher secondary schools at Lalazar and Sabzazar and a girls intermediate college at Tariqabad at a cost of Rs80 million.

“The credit for this goes to Military Lands and Cantonments director general Maj Gen Najamul Hassan who decided to use the funds available with the department to start educational institutes for the residents,” he said.

He said the girls’ college would be established at the place of the slaughterhouse which was shifted out of the residential area. He said the government had promised to launch development schemes in the civilian populated areas of the cantonment soon.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2017