National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman on Thursday took notice of what he called ‘criminal negligence and incompetence’ on the part of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) which caused loss of more than one billion to the national exchequer and directed NAB Operations Division to conduct an inquiry into the matter.
Regarding the CAA, he said that the airport’s airstrip does not meet the international standards because the inter-strip distance is only 300 meters instead of 800 meters; despite the vast amount of land lying vacant.
“The CAA has been losing approximately Rs 10-14 billion per year since 1992,” he said.
However, the chairman appreciated the new auditing system adopted by the CAA.
“There used to be no transparent system of accounting and verification of charges but the present set up of CAA has done a good job and as a result its revenue will increase from 13 to 27 billion per annum,” he added. On the other hand, he revealed CDA’s faulty planning regarding the allowance granted to high-rise buildings in Islamabad.
“CDA’s negligence has caused a loss of approximately Rs 5 billion to one of the builders from Islamabad because of its lack of coordination with the CAA in calculating the permissible safety height,” he said.
