CDA unlikely to deliver with the current team

Islamabad: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is unlikely to produce results and give performance as per expectations of the Prime Minister Imran Khan with present management which also includes old faces of the last PML-N Government.

The Prime Minister only a day before called the CDA chairman Ishrat Ali and his board members in his office and express displeasure over increasing encroachment in the federal capital and wanted the civic body to improve its performance, Earlier, Imran Khan also sought last 10-year performance report from the authority which according to reports had been presented to him.

It goes without saying that it would be useless to attach high hopes with the CDA with the current team which has been working on stop-gap arrangements by giving charge of senior posts to junior officers without giving them any targets.

The present CDA board which called on the Prime Minister in his office also include Member Estate Kushhal Khan who was appointed in the authority on recommendation of then Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Fuad Hasan Fuad, about two years back. At that time, Kushhal Khan was in BPS-19 but holding post of Joint Secretary at the Prime Minister Secretariat.

Member Engineering Ahmad Baksh Awan has been transferred to CDA from National Highway Authority (NHA). The officer was first appoint in NHA in BPS-19 on contractual basis during the PPP tenure and later his services were regularized on recommendation of the Khurshid Shah committee which was set up to regularize Government employees who had completed at least one year daily wages or contract service.

The post of Member Planning is being held by a Civil Engineer of CDA Hafiz Ehsan who is in BPS-19 but was given charge of the senior post of BPS-20 on retirement of ex Member Asad Mehboob Kiani. There is no set criteria for appointment of Member Planning but considering nature of the post, a town planner should be chosen for the job.

Over the last many years, the authority had become a dead body failing to carry out any infrastructure development or launch any new residential sector in Islamabad leaving the low income groups who wanted to have their shelter at mercy of private housing societies. For the last many years there has also been no direct recruitment in the engineering wing where diploma holder sub engineers are holding posts of assistant director and deputy director.

On the other hand the Municipal Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) led by Islamabad Mayor Shaikh Ansar Aziz who was also given additional charge of CDA chairman by the PML-N Government, had also failed to come upto expectations of residents. The MCI's environment had even failed in keeping the federal capital in good shape through timely cutting of wild growth across Islamabad. Keeping in view present state affairs in CDA, a major reshuffle in hierarchy of the civic body could not be ruled out in near future.