The National Assembly Standing Committee for the Cabinet Secretariat has suggested formation of a committee to analyse reorganisation of the Capital Development Authority Board.
At a meeting of the standing committee held on Thursday with its Chairman Ashiq Hussain Bukhari in the chair took into consideration the ways to reorganise the CDA Board in a transparent manner.
The members of the committee, expressing reservations over majority number of members of CDA in the board, suggested induction of members from other departments by transferring the authority’s employees to other organisations.
CDA Chairman Farkhand Iqbal told the National Assembly Standing Committee for Cabinet Secretariat that the CDA Board comprised 9 members out of whom six were from the CDA. The members of the standing committee questioned how a CDA employee could negate a decision taken by the civic agency chairman CDA. They proposed that secretaries from other departments should also be given representation in the board.
Hamidullah Jan Afridi suggested that secretaries of Finance Division and Planning Division should also be included in the in order to ensure timely release of grants for the CDA. The standing committee recommended that the legal wing of CDA should play a more effective role as more than 5,000 cases of the CDA were pending in courts.
Cabinet Secretariat Additional Secretary Shahidullah Baig said that the legal team from CDA should also be called before the committee to analyse its performance. He said most of the CDA employees were not aware of the modern changes in other departments as they worked in no other organisation before their retirement.
Briefing the committee on the renovation work in Blue Area, Islamabad, CDA Chairman Farkhand Iqbal said tenders would be issued today (Friday) for the project.
The applicants will have to construct multi-storeyed buildings having two basement floors, four storeys for offices of certain businesses and the fifth floor having stalls of edibles.
He said business sector in Blue Area had not been renovated for years and the CDA was planning to do so. According to the renovation-plan, high buildings would be constructed in Blue Area, he added.
He said Park Enclave was a prospective residential project but work on the plan could not be done in due course of time as attention was diverted to Kuri Model Village plan.
Now 100 percent land had been acquired to complete the project while a plot had also been allotted to Mehreen Anwar MNA.
Chairman CDA Farkhand Iqbal informed the meeting that an accord had been signed with Chinese Company to fulfil the water-needs of Islamabad for 50 years through Ghazi-Barotha Dam, as Simly Dam and Khanpur Dam cannot make for future needs of water in the federal capital.
He said sector G-12 was fatal for peace and work through public-private partnership is going on to get rid of land-mafia.
Answering to a question, presence of residences of Afghan immigrants in sector I-11 has impeded the progress of development work in the sector but somehow it is going on.
He told the meeting that shifting the Afghan immigrants to other areas also involves the role of government institutions and talks in this regard are on.
Iqbal said talks with Chinese companies were on the go for developing sector I-15, but CDA needs the approval of Prime Minister, Law Division, and other concerned government institutions in this regard. He said CDA Board should be strengthened further to survive political pressure and for this purpose, members of parliament could also be included in it.
