Wapda’s adhocism may hit water, power sector projects

LAHORE: Adhocism has been plaguing Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to the core for about a year, overshadowing awarding of contracts worth billions of rupees for the construction of mega infrastructure projects.

Junior officials are being appointed on makeshift basis to run top, senior level positions. A junior officer is holding two top posts in addition to his actual responsibilities, it has been learnt.

More worryingly, Wapda management also hired a retired official as advisor for running affairs of Member Water.

Additionally, the post of general manager, Central Contract Cell (CCC) is also being badly misgoverned in Wapda at a time when work on several mega water sector projects, including Diamer Basha Dam is being launched.

Sources said that adhoc filling of high ranking posts was causing administrative degradation, and delays in executing operational matters, besides creating anxiety among senior management.

A Wapda official said appointments of members were done through the Ministry of Water Resources. Therefore, delay in filling these posts was not directly related with the Wapda administration. However, he admitted, adhoc arrangement at CCC post was solely related to Wapda management. He assured of sharing a formal comment on the allegations, but did not revert back.

When Shamail Ahmad Khawaja, secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, was asked about delayed appointments on key posts in Wapda, he asserted that such notions were against fact.

“It is misrepresentation and contrary to facts. There is no delay on the part of Ministry of Water Resources. There is nothing undue pending as such,” he said. It has been learnt that the post of member water was being run by a retired official, who acted as an advisor, and was currently running all the affairs of Wapda’s Water Wing.

He sat at the designated office for the said member. However, all his input was superficial as another relatively junior official - general manager hydel - has been given additional charge of member water.

His signatures are must for all correspondence, and he is being used as a rubber stamp for materialising decisions taken by a nobody - advisor to member water. The apex court has already observed that re-employment of retired government officers on senior positions is prima facie a violation of law. The court further noted that the re-employment was tantamount to blocking promotions of otherwise deserving officers and was not conducive to good governance.

The same GM hydel has also been burdened with another additional charge of member power. While holding responsibilities of GM hydel, he simultaneously acts as member water and power as additional charge, and sits at the office of member power.

The appointment of the same person two posts was also creating problems for contractors of Wapda, who were not able to raise their matter at the office of member after exhausting their option at GM level. It was also utterly disgusting that Wapda’s CCC has also become one of the leading examples of bad governance, claimed sources.

This special cell of the authority has been formed for providing opinion/advice to the top management and its projects/formations on formulation, execution and administration of contracts. However, the post of general manager, CCC was being badly misgoverned in Wapda.

This important cell manages all contractual matters of Wapda’s ongoing projects. This post was being run by appointing a retired official as advisor to GM, CCC. He works at the office GM, but since he cannot function legally on this post, a chief engineer, who was given the additional charge of GM, CCC has been responsible for carrying out day to day affairs of this highly important department.

An insider said Wapda was a huge department responsible for harnessing potential of water sector of the country, and he felt at a loss when observing the lack of professionalism and prevalence of poor governance at the authority.

The objectives of ensuring transparency, fairness and equal opportunities for all would remain a dream if such pathetic management practices continued at the top level, he observed. Furthermore, he added, the highly educated human resource of Wapda could not be given a fair chance of excelling if they were not promoted on their respective turn as per rules.

The appointments on adhoc basis always created problems in smooth departmental promotions, which was a basic attraction for every official of the authority.