‘Poor’ CDA finding it hard to pay employees’ salaries

Popularly known as a moneyed civic agency, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is reportedly so strapped for cash that currently it has become hard for it to arrange monthly pay of its employees. The total amount required for the monthly pay and pension of the CDA’s employees is over Rs 350 million and currently the financial crisis faced by the authority is so aggravated that the CDA’s finance department can hardly arrange salaries at the end of the month. These views were reportedly voiced by the high ups of the CDA’s finance wing during a briefing to CDA Chairman Farkhand Iqbal and Member (Finance) Javeed Jahangir a few days ago.
A source privy to the matter seeking anonymity told this scribe that the newly-appointed CDA chairman and member (finance) were shocked to know about the financial crises. During the briefing, the source said, both the chairman and member (finance) also sought opinion from some financial experts in this regard. The CDA’s financial experts, he said, suggested that the authority could either demand some emergency funding from the government or it could arrange auction of some of the authority’s plot as soon as possible. The source said the member (finance) immediately dismissed the idea of seeking government funding citing the latter’s financial crises. He, however, told the relevant directorate of the authority to arrange the auction of some plots in the next month.
“Following the orders, the CDA Estate Management Directorate is expected to conduct the auction of residential and commercial plots in the city’s developed sectors such as G-10, G-11, F-11 and commercial centres in F-11, D-12, I & T ,G-10, F&V Market I-11, Industrial I-9, I-10, Economy Flat & Class III Shopping Centre G-11 on 9th and 10 January, 2012 on January 10”, he said.
The official said the authority has also stopped its funding to the ongoing projects including Rs 3 billion Zero Point Interchange (ZPI) project. Earlier the CDA big bosses had fixed December last year for the completion of the project but it was still incomplete, he added.
He said that not only the contractor overseeing the ZPI project but many others, who are working on other uplift projects in Islamabad, are also facing the dearth of funding. And that, he said, was undermining all those development schemes including the construction of Kashmir Highway. The official said the projects that had hits snags because of funds dearth included work in Sector D-12, the construction of a culture complex, Fatima Jinnah Park, up gradation of Marghazar Zoo. He said the CDA had opened the Sector D-12 in 1988 but it was in 2003 that it could actually start development work there and that too was still unfinished.
Similarly, the CDA had launched Sector I-15 in 2006 to meet the residential needs of low-income groups in the capital, but the work was yet to be started there, he added.
The official said the CDA started the construction work at the Rs 1.3 billion Cultural Complex at Shakarparian in December 2007 and planned to complete in June 2010 but the target was yet to be achieved. Similarly, he said, the CDA started the development work at Fatima Jinahh Park in 2008 but that too was still unfinished, simply because of the funds’ dearth.
CDA’s Member (Finance) Javed Janhagir, when contacted, said the financial position of the authority was not ‘that critical’ and hoped the situation would improve soon.
When asked if CDA had arranged the auction of some of its plots, he said; “Such auctions are a routine matter”.