KOHAT, Oct 4: The Kohat tehsil municipal administration (TMA) has postponed the repair of city roads.
And, despite the privatisation of the sanitation department, no tangible results are visible in the city. The company which has been given the contract for the purpose is yet to buy garbage collection and disposal vehicles. The company, it is learnt, pays only between Rs1200 and Rs1,800 to sweepers as against the TMA, which paid Rs2,500.
It is also learnt that the sanitation staff’s salaries were not being paid on time, which forced them to stop work in protest.
The rate at which the company had been given to clean only half a square kilometre of the city was Rs3.5 million. But, officials said, the company had failed to keep a clean record in this regard.
Since 2003, the tehsil municipal administration had been allocating funds for the repair of major city roads, which needed urgent repairs because of the use of sub-standard material, technical faults and a defective drainage system.
Last year, Rs3.5 million had been sanctioned by the town council which also decided to float tenders. But the process was stopped by TMA officials.
The new tehsil nazim had also ordered the floating of tenders for the repair work but unfortunately the TMA engineers, who had been delaying the work for the past five years under one pretext or the other had come out with a new excuse.
They told the tehsil nazim that roads could not be repaired because of cold weather as bitumen would not hold onto the crushed stones.
Although it had been observed in last two decades that the newly constructed roads always crumbled after six months when the planners adhered to engineering principle of constructing roads only during summer.
It has been observed that where there is chance of minting or embezzling money the TMA officials act very swiftly. They demolished and auctioned the Jinnah Library (1954- 2005) Jinnah Commercial Plaza within few days of taking decision to use the place for generating extra income.
The basement and ground floor of this eight marla piece of land had been auctioned for 20 million rupees and the money had been misappropriated. The case is pending in the NAB, Peshawar for almost six months.
The TMA was also quick to sell the material of the old prison building which was given to a blue eyed for just Rs 400,000 against a standing offer of Rs 1.5 million, according to annual audit report.
It is interesting that at both the places the construction had been stopped by the contractors after laying foundations which had turned them into pools. One of the western foundation of the basement and wall of the Jinnah Plaza had caved in during last monsoon season.
The Shah Faisal Gate and Tehsil Gate entrances besides, timber and chicken market are some of the places which turn into pools after slight rain. The condition of the Bannu, Hangu roads and one bypass is also very poor and causing extreme inconvenience to the people for the last five years.