Expressing concern over the inordinate delay in the completion of the development work of overseas housing project in Zone V, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis on Wednesday warned that the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation (OPF) and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) should give a timeframe for the project’s completion in the next committee’s meeting.
The committee meeting, which met with Muhammad Jadam Mangrio MNA in the chair, was held to discuss the Overseas Pakistanis Housing Project, the selection of members of the board of governors of the OPF and the murder of a Pakistani in the US.
The committee chairman said the money of overseas Pakistanis was being misused, adding that the committee would not let it happen and the OPF and the FWO were required to give a timeframe for the completion.
“The project was started in 1996 and now it is around 16 years that not even a single phase had been handed over to the allottees. We have visited the place and even 20 percent of the development work has not been completed. In my estimate, no more than a million has been spent on the development of the project Mangrio said.
Meanwhile, in his briefing, OPF Managing Director Israr Khan Jamali told the committee that the FWO was not seriously pursuing the development work despite being paid over a billion rupees. He also added that the FWO had been given a contract of Rs 2.5 billion.
When Fauzia Wahab asked the managing director if any tender was advertised for the contract to the FWO, he replied in the negative, adding that the board of governors had approved it owing to a litigation that the contract should be awarded to a powerful organisation.
“The basic reason was the litigation and the BoG approved that no tender should be advertised and contract should be given to FWO as being a powerful organisation would not let hurdles impede the development work”, the Managing Director said.
He said the FWO had been given over a billion rupees by the OPF, adding that initially NESPAK was the consultant for the project but later it refused to work with the OPF.
The managing director also said plots in their housing project were costlier than those in other housing schemes in the locality.
Dr Khatu Mal Jewan said the OPF should provide the committee all details from the very beginning regarding the purchase of land and the price of purchasing, the total land purchased, the total amount deposited by the overseas and how much mark-up has been obtained on the deposit in the next meeting.
The committee directed the OPF to take up the issue with the FWO and provide all details in the next meeting.