Owing to the lethargic attitude of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), more than eight electric cars imported from China, worth million of rupees, are out of order for the last one year. The episode shows how much the city’s prime agency is concerned about the precious resources. The said cars were imported by former chairman of CDA Kamran Lashari with an aim to facilitate the visitors, particularly the senior citizens, who visit different tourist’s spots, including Damn-e-Koh and Lake View Park. Now, only few of these cars are on the track while most of them have become an “attraction” at the garages. A CDA official told Pakistan Today that the price of each car was around one million. “Only one of the four cars is functional at Lake View Park,” he said, adding that one vehicle was functional at Damn-e-Koh while another one was being used at the chairman’s office, with the remaining two out of order cars parked at the Environment Directorate.
According to the official, the use of these cars boost in Eid days but despite the requests for release of funds for their repair, the high-ups of the authority paid no heed towards the issue. Several visitors, while talking to Pakistan Today, also expressed their concern over the poor performance of the CDA. “We have to wait for a long time for the electric car because only one is available here for us,” said Mugheez Ashraf, a visitor of Lake View Park. He said the civic body had spent a huge amount on other useless facilities but seemed reluctant to provide basic facilities to the citizens.
Some visitors appreciated the CDA for running electricity-powered cars at tourist spots but criticised it over poor maintenance. “It has become tradition for the civic body to introduce new things but not to keep them well-maintained,” remarked Saad Hameed, a senior citizen. He said the authority could earn enough money by running more electrical cars but most of the officials were only concerned about their vested interests. “They have nothing to do with development,” he said, adding that how the authority could import more cars when it failed to save million of rupees spent on the already imported ones.
At Damn-e-Koh, the parking space is quite far from the view point of the capital city due to which many of the visitors rely on electrical vehicle to reach the spot but in current situation they have to wait for a long for the car. A local staffer serving at Damn-e-Koh told that during the Eid holidays a large number of visitors from the twin cities visited the place but they faced numerous problems, while reaching the main park. He said most of the electrical vehicles were not functional even during the Eid holidays.
The transport director of CDA Environment Directorate, Muhammad Irfan, while talking to Pakistan Today, said the process of reparation of electricity-powered cars was underway. He said the said electrical vehicles run on electrical batteries, many of which were now out of order. “New batteries are required to put the cars back on track, for which funds are also required” he said, adding that the authority would soon repair the out of order cars.
