In a bid to check malpractices in the Capital Development Authority, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has confiscated the whole record of the CDA in several mega projects, including the “future lifeline” Kashmir Highway, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The civic body had launched the project several months back to provide an easy access to the new airport, under construction in Fateh Jang, some 30 kilometres from the capital, but the venture has been hanging in balance for last some weeks because of the severe financial crunch, raising serious concerns.
A CDA official, while seeking anonymity, said besides the Kashmir Highway, the FIA started probe into other uplift projects of the CDA. “The agency has started investigating Kuri land scam, Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), Zero Point Interchange (ZPI) and land deals with some local and foreign companies, including selling of a plot for constructing a hotel/apartment complex near the Jinnah Convention Centre and leasing out a restaurant on Margalla Hills.
The official alleged that the investigation in the CDA cases was also touted as a move by some senior government members to bring the civic body under there control. According to the laws, the FIA deals with the terrorism cases, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) looks into financial embezzlements and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has purview to deal with drugs and narcotics-related cases.
However, the official said, the Rs3 billion dual carriageway project – under which the road will have five lanes on each side from Golra Morr to Peshawar Morr – was being constructed under the PSDP. The Officials of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the CDA are describing the Kashmir Highway project as the “future lifeline” of Islamabad as it will provide links between the capital and the new airport, and the MI and M2, connecting the capital with Lahore and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A wholesale market has also been proposed in Sangjani near the new airport for trade activities in the northern region and Punjab.