Cold war between CDA, IMC continues

CDA refused to release funds to the contractor for repair of
IJ Principal Road project and is also contemplating to cancel contract

Islamabad

The development activity in Islamabad likely to suffer due to cold war between the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) over distribution of powers between the two entities.

The recent ground-breaking ceremony of maintenance and repair work of the I J Principal Road performed by the Islamabad mayor only on Monday, has further created confusion as to how the development projects in the federal capital would be carried forward.

The project costing Rs165 million is being funded by the CDA and while the authority had also awarded contract of the work while the mayor reached the site to unveil the plaque.

The sources said that CDA has also refused to release funds to the contractor for the project and is also contemplating to cancel the contract awarded to him. It has been learnt that the authority would not pay expenses including the mobilisation advance to the contractor who also paid money for Monday’s ground-breaking ceremony.

The official sources said that despite devolution of many functions to the IMC, the CDA would continue to execute major development projects including the avenues, highways and principal roads while IMC would maintain and repair streets and internal roads of sectors.

The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015 also carries some ambiguity as according to third schedule of the Act, the IMC would maintain roads and streets, small markets and commercial areas but it does tell in detail as to which roads would be maintained by the metropolitan corporation.

It may be pointed out here that development authorities like Rawalpindi Development Authority RDA) and Lahore Development Authority (LDA) also execute major development works while municipal bodies only perform municipal functions.

Chief Metropolitan Officer Asad Kiani when contacted said following devolution of roads maintenance directorate to the IMC, the corporation is responsible to maintain and repair roads including the I J Principal Road.

He said the CDA had awarded contract of the project during the month of May but the work was yet to be started despite the fact the I J Principal Road is presently in bad shape. According to him, the IMC was not functioning beyond its limits.

The residents of Islamabad particularly those living in sectors I-9 and I-10 feel that the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation needed to focus more on improvement of markets, parks and up gradation of  various other civic facilities and ensure continuous water supply in all the sectors.

They feel that there was also need to replace the decades old sewerage lines in old sectors like I-9, I-10, G-6, G-7, G-8 and G-10

Following passage of the Punjab Local Government Act and Islamabad Local Acts, the metropolitan corporations have been given increased powers with award of many additional functions. Previously, the municipal administrations used to performed only municipal function like sanitation work.