Gwadar land cost shoots up by half billion rupees

[LRE]

Gwadar land cost shoots up by half billion rupees


Monday, October 20, 2008
By Rauf Klasra

ISLAMABAD: A top level inquiry has been ordered against Defence Ministry officials for keeping a sum of Rs 1 billion in bank deposits for two years, instead of acquiring the land for the new Rs 7 billion Gwadar International Airport, minutes of a high-level meeting show.

The delay led to a huge rise in the cost of the 4,300 acres of land and the taxpayers were also made to pay an additional half-a-billion rupees for this negligence. Official documents available with The News reveal that a “fact finding inquiry” was ordered last week, after it was observed in the last meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) that without getting approval of the Planning Division, the Ministry of Defence had already purchased the land at almost double the price.

While the versions of all parties are included in the minutes of the CDWP meeting, this correspondent made several calls to contact Deputy Chairman Salman Faruqui and inquiry officer General Zubair Ahmed. While Faruqui was not available, General Zubair said that the government had already made the full payment of Rs 1.4 billion to the concerned authorities two years back and now they wanted to know why this money was not used, which led to an escalation in the cost of land.

He said he also wanted to know the reasons which delayed the purchase of land. He said the deputy chairman Planning Commission Salman Faruqui had also asked him not only to look into those causes but also see the possibility of financing of the airport through some private company.

The minutes of the CDWP meeting show a committee of seven senior officials comprising Ministry of Defence, Planning Division and the government of Balochistan has been formed, which has been asked to submit its report into this irregularity.

Before getting the lucrative job of Member Planning, General Zubair was working as the chairman ERRA. The other seven members of the committee are Additional Chief Secretary Development Government of Balochistan, Additional Secretary Finance Division, Islamabad, Additional Secretary Defence Division, Deputy Director General Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry Of Defence, Senior Member Board Of Revenue, Balochistan, joint Chief Economist (Projects) Planning Commission and specialist PSDP Planning Division.

The inquiry was ordered by the CDWP when the multi-billion rupee New Gwadar International Airport project was submitted for approval. Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Salman Faruqui presided over the meeting.

The Ministry of Defence had sought the approval for additional payment for the land. But the participants were shocked to know that instead of purchasing the land for which the money was released, the defence ministry did not use it for two years. As a result, the cost of the land went up from earlier estimates of Rs 157,000 per acre to Rs 384,140 per acre.

Defending its action, Additional secretary Ministry of Defence said the revised cost of Rs 1.5 billion envisaged acquisition of 4,300 acres of land for the airport at Gurandani, 26 km away from the Gwadar city.

But Chief (transport and communication section) blasted the Defence Ministry and said this was basically a case of ex post facto approval. He revealed that the original cost of land acquisition was Rs 1.05 billion and rate was Rs157,000 per acre for acquisition of 6,500 acres of land, which was approved by ECNEC on June 30, 2006.

Considering the urgency of the matter, Rs1 billion was released to MEO, Quetta on the same day which was the last day of financial year. He said later, on the request of the then Governor Balochistan, the land requirement was reviewed in a meeting chaired by the deputy chairman planning Dr Akram Sheikh on June 2, 2007 where the GOB stated that only 4,300 acres of land was available for the new airport instead of 6,500 acres. Even the amount of Rs 1 billion already paid was insufficient to acquire 4,300 acres of land. The revised cost was worked out at Rs 1.447 billion i.e. Rs 447 million more than the already paid amount.

It was decided in the meeting that the government would consider funding the additional amount from the PSPD 2007-08 for purchase of 4,300 acres of land. Chief (T&C) also revealed that additional amount of half a billion rupees had also been paid to the government of Balochistan and now only a formality was being fulfilled to get the approval of the CDWP for the additional payment made.

But the scam surfaced when specialist PSDP Planning Commission revealed that Rs1.05 billion was released on June 30, 2006 to Defence Ministry officials, who kept these funds with them for two years.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=141949