The newly appointed Chairman Capital Development Authority Tahir Shahbaz said that he wanted to ball the jack but with a realistic mindset by setting all ambitious projects aside and focussing on the doable ones.
“We should only mull over projects within our capabilities. Being a civic body we are supposed to prioritize what ever brings relief to residents. Unfortunately, during the last several years, CDA had lost trust among people that needs to be restored at top priority,” the chairman said in an interview with APP.
He said that massive recruitment in CDA had burdened it financially and physically, operations could not improve as inertia pervaded and residents of the federal capital were getting estranged from the city developers.
He said that the main focus would be on training inefficient workers and teaching them how to deal with the public so that CDA may regain its lost trust that would ultimately help eliminate various anomalies as well.
Tahir said, “How we can run a civic body when the applicants and officials pre-empt their tactics. The former tries to get his work done and the latter tries to entangle him to mint money. We need to replace this with a friendly atmosphere and a positive mindset.”
He said that CDA had banned fresh recruitment and started working on a new Human Resource policy to scrutinize the workforce appointed during the predecessor’s tenures and suggest criteria for appointments in the future.
He said that to ensure transparency and expeditious response to applications, CDA had started the computerization of land records. In the next phase, these records would be uploaded on CDA’s website. This would also help residents submit and check the status of their applications.
The chairman said that the other task taken up by him was the scrutiny of kiosks that had become a blot on the capital city’s beauty. They had been set up without specific land identification or design.
“There should be need based criteria to allot space for kiosks. There should also be a specific design for them to make them attractive and worth seeing. A committee had been formed to devise a policy on kiosks as well,” he remarked.
The chairman said that a committee had been formed to suggest steps for CDA to generate revenue as it was having a hard time paying its employees.
The chief said that on directives of the Cabinet Division, CDA had started conducting a drive to conserve water, electricity and gas to make Islamabad a model for other cities of the country.
