ISLAMABAD: The finance wing of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has approved an additional PKR 500 million for the Bhara Kahu bypass project.
The government has directed the CDA to complete the project by next month.
So far, 60% of the work has been completed, including the earthwork for the entire road and the laying of girders on the interchange.
Over 50% of the work on the bridge and all three underpasses has also been completed. However, the work on the 1km flyover area is progressing relatively slower.
Out of the total 6.5 billion rupees allocated for the project, the CDA had already released 2.5 billion rupees.
The engineering wing had requested the release of 3 billion rupees but was only given 500 million rupees with the assurance that more installments would be released in the coming weeks.
The CDA officials shared that funds for various projects were being released in installments due to the authority’s financial issues.
The CDA has faced financial difficulties requiring billions of rupees for completion.
This is partly since a major portion of the funds the CDA received during the last auction of plots two years ago has already been spent on quotation works.
During the last few years, some directorates of the CDA, against rules and regulations and without calling tenders, spent around 20 billion rupees on quotation works.
As per the rules, quotations are meant for emergency work worth 500,000 rupees, but while ignoring the two warning letters issued by the former chairman, a few officers got development work worth billions of rupees done through quotations.
The quotation scam was detected by the CDA Chairman, retired Capt. Mohammad Usman, who ordered an inquiry. However, the outcome of the inquiry has yet to come to light.
Similarly, in a highly questionable move, the Auditor General of the Pakistan Office also remained ignorant about this scam while auditing CDA accounts during the last few years.
It was also disclosed that the civic authority faced a shortage of funds since massive funds had been used on quotation work.
However, the situation is expected to improve after the auction of plots this month, in which the authority expects to earn 20 billion rupees.
Additionally, CDA is planning to launch a housing project, mainly for overseas Pakistanis, which is expected to be a financial booster.
