Rs4m goes down the drain as playground project shelved

PESHAWAR: The apparent lack of coordination among government departments and carelessness of the officials of the Directorate of Sports resulted in waste of Rs4 million of taxpayers’ money as the Water and Sanitation Services Company Peshawar (WSSP) stopped the former from developing a playground on a piece of land.

The WSSP had claimed ownership of this piece of land.

Officials said the Directorate of Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had approved Rs15 million for making a playground on150 kanals of state land in Garhi Baloch on Charsadda road in Peshawar.

It had also planned to construct a state-of-the-art cycling velodrome on 40 kanals of land with an initial allocation of Rs100 million for the project, they said, adding the directorate was all set to get the project approved in the next provincial Annual Development

Plan (ADP).

The aforementioned land was the property of the Public Health Engineering Department, but was later transferred to the WSSP, which planned to rehabilitate a sewerage water treatment plant on the property.

When contacted, Director General (DG), Directorate of Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Junaid Khan said that the district sports officer had identified the land for construction of a playground under the provincial government initiative of building 100 playgrounds at tehsil levels across the province.

The contract had been awarded and construction work on the project was underway, he added.

“The land was the property of Public Health Engineering Department but am unaware that it was later transferred to the WSSP,” he elaborated.

 “The officials of Public Health, Directorate of Sports and Revenue Department had been taken onboard before approving construction of the playground on the said land,” he claimed.

He said the directorate had also planned to construct a modern cycling velodrome on another 40 kanals of land to promote the sports and provide the players a proper practicing platform to hone their skills.

Ali Khan, general manager operations WSSP, insisted that the land was the property of the company and it planned to rehabilitate a sewerage water treatment plant there.

He said the WSSP had also signed a memorandum of understating (MoU) in this regard with a Chinese firm during the visit of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to China for Beijing Road Show held in April.

The Directorate of Sports did not inform the WSSP before approving the playground on the land in question, he argued.

The official said the WSSP had written to the Director General Sports to stop further construction work at the site as it was the WSSP’s property.

“This is our property and the Directorate of Sports should have contacted us before approving any project on this land,” he complained.

He said the WSSP wanted to rehabilitate an existing sewerage water treatment plant there to prevent millions of litres of contaminated water from flowing into the River Indus. 

He said that sewerage water of 25 suburban union councils of Peshawar district would be treated in the plant and then released into the river.  

The decision to rehabilitate the sewerage water treatment plant annoyed the locals and cyclists and they criticised the move.

KP Cycling Association President Nisar Ahmad said that the decision would deprive the local youth and players of a playing facility.

He said that the construction of the velodrome was the longstanding demand

of the cyclists and the decision of the WSSP was shocking for the association

and cyclists.

However, DG Sports Junaid Khan said that they were determined to construct the velodrome and the project would be included in the next ADP. “We would construct the facility somewhere else,” he added.

Youth Councillor Akbar Khan said that the decision negated the manifesto of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and belied its claims of promoting sports and the cause of youth.

Local residents Ahad Murtaza and Shayan Shah said that it was the only playground in the area and its takeover by the WSSP to build water sewerage plant would deprive them the players and youth of the much-needed facility.

Spokesperson for the PTI-led provincial government and Minister Shah Farman expressed his ignorance about the issue.