Govt all set to reduce CDA’s responsibilities

ISLAMABAD: The government is all set to reduce the responsibilities of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) under its ambitious governance and civil service reforms, as currently 99 departments are working under the chairman, The News has learnt.
The much-awaited reforms will also be introduced in the police department, and health and education sectors.
Official minutes of a meeting of Committee on Reforms in the ICT chaired by Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, a copy of which is available with The News, disclosed that the committee shared with the participants that currently 99 departments of the authority were working under one chairman, as its role has expanded immensely.
They recommended reduction in the CDA’s responsibilities, increase in budgets and integration of various departments to improve its efficiency.
The MNA from Islamabad Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry suggested that the CDA should outsource some of its activities and engage in public/private partnerships.
He was in favour of integration of Islamabad Development Authority and Islamabad Planning and Regulation Authority.
He suggested that the CDA should open Islamabad waste management to private partnerships like Punjab.
Committee on Police, Law and Order Reforms in ICT: The minister for planning, development and reforms encouraged the ICT police to strengthen their media presence.
He asked the police to be responsive and include positive news coverage. Additionally, the ICT police must have a constant mechanism to communicate with the public.
On the subject of Leadership Courses for SHOs, the committee informed the audience that short and slightly long courses were being offered to staff at all levels.
The committee also informed that paid parking was the CDA’s domain and the ICT police were willing to provide support in terms of identification of areas.
The minister offered several suggestions to improve the ICT police. These include adding female moharars, training police on how to engage with the public, making police visible in high-density areas at night as a tool of deterrence, introducing community and smart policing, defining hours and shifts of rapid response force so that the staff is not overburdened.
Ahsan Iqbal shared the example of Vehari’s model police station to offer an example.
He encouraged the ICT to form its police stations on Punjab’s model. An appropriate pace would be 8 police stations a year.
Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry MNA termed the faulty revenue collection system of ICT as the main reason why funds were not available for development.
He advocated the integration of ICT rather than disintegration due to division under various federal ministries.
The minister responded that the revenue stream flowing to federal government was an issue separate from development and reform.
Dr. Tariq Fazal also brought up the issue of reinstatement of suspended SHOs in different police stations and recommended that they must be removed from the system altogether.
He advocated for restricting the quota of hiring of ICT police to the residents of Islamabad. He was against the present quotas of each province in the ICT police recruitment.
In health sector, the committee identified issues in public health services, provided a synopsis of the current state of health delivery and reiterated the aim of the reform project, which is to make Islamabad a model for healthcare delivery.
Ahsan Iqbal, according to the minutes, asked the committee to provide the ratio of total beds in Islamabad vs. other provinces so that a more appropriate comparison could be made.
The committee noted that patients prefer public hospitals for inpatient care vs. outpatient care. The minister commented that some study should be done on patients seeking care from government doctors with private practices so that the complete picture could be understood.
He said absence of specialists at the basic health structure at district level had resulted in a lot of pressure on the tertiary sector.
He emphasised removal of grade structure in order to bring professionals on board who could be hired on a market based salary structure at the district headquarter level.
This would reduce referrals by district level to the tertiary level. He suggested to the committee to propose reforms which would ensure the presence of core specialists in all the secondary-tier hospitals in Islamabad by hiring doctors on a market based salary structure.
The committee recommended the creation of Capital Health Authority and a Policy Board to integrate the existing administrative functions.
The minister recommended the inclusion of private sector representatives, healthcare experts, healthcare management experts, IT experts and public administration representatives on the Policy Board. He also recommended that the board size should be limited to 15 people.
Similarly, for the Capital Health Authority, the minister recommended the inclusion of IT experts because of the importance IT has in healthcare administration.
Secretary Planning Hassan Nawaz Tarar emphasized transparency of the Policy Board and recommended that it should have a website that includes procurement procedures, members and data.
Realizing the need for tangible targets, the minister asked the committee to define their key baseline indicators and set targets against the baseline. Without a baseline, the reforms will be abstract and subjective. The baseline indicators should be made keeping in mind the national and provincial indicators. He stated that the main aim should be delivery with clearly defined indicators.
Minister of State for Health Services Regulation and Coordination, Ms. Saira Afzal Tarar advocated for devising minimum standards for healthcare delivery in public and private sector.
Committee on Education Reforms in ICT: The committee discussed various impediments to quality education delivery including infrastructure, supplies, shortage of teachers, transportation and libraries.
Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhry regretted underutilization of Rs450 million allocated for development of Islamabad’s schools. He advised the committee to pool in transportation for all schools rather than running separate buses for each schools. The model of student cards in Lahore can also be worth a review.
To encourage academics, he recommended the building of two libraries, one in rural and one in urban area. The committee recommended the separation of cadres for teachers and administrators to improve professionalism and ensure equal opportunities.
Secretary PDR stated that in school admissions, preference should be given to the students of locality rather than of other areas.