Islamabad: A bumpy road ahead for new CDA chief

[Naveed Yaseen]

The new Chairman of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Imtiaz Inayat Elahi, spelled out the policy in his address to the CDA officers after taking charge of the office in the Convention Centre, saying that ‘good governance’, ‘merit’ and ‘transparency’ would strictly be observed to run the affairs of the authority.

However, this sounds easier said than done! The affairs of the authority have already become so complex that it would require a lot of effort to untangle the mess that has already been created before moving forward. It was quite evident that the affairs of the CDA had reached the stage where the government decided to bring about this change at the top without waiting for the return of the former chairman, Tariq Mahmood Khan, who had gone to Malaysia only for a three-day official visit and Mr Elahi was directed by the Cabinet Division to immediately assume the charge of the office without any delay.

What the new chairman told ‘The News’ in a brief interaction after taking charge of the office it seems evident that he was more interested in streamlining the affairs instead of digging up the dirt. “We will see what had happened in the past later. First we have to look at the present with a futuristic approach and bring about a change that should immediately arrest any further deterioration and to put the system on the right track,” Elahi has told ‘The News’.

It appears that the new chairman would be required to make some drastic changes in the present set up and bring in some new faces of stronger will and determination to implement the policy matters. At the same time he would be required to pay some serious attention to remove the grievances of a number of officers who have been feeling deprived of their rights and some have even agitated the matter in the court of law already.

This, if done, would amount to be the first step in right direction for bringing about ‘good governance’ in the CDA.While implementing ‘Merit’, the new chairman is bound to head straight in trouble as well, both in the internal affairs of the CDA as well as to deal with innumerable matters pertaining to the authority involving general public. ‘Merit’ is the word that had usually brought the things to a halt in the authority in the past as people, both inside the CDA as well as the general public dealing with the authority enjoy an abundance of influence at all levels, which they use for ‘arm twisting’ to have their own way in the affairs. And, this has always led to complications and delays in resolving even minor issues. It would, indeed, be something interesting to see as to how the new chairman would weave through this mesh of raw power and influence, both political as well as bureaucratic.

As a first step it would require a Herculean effort on part of the new chairman to deal with the cases that are lying pending in different directorates and other offices, waiting for a decision to get the things moving. Sources in the CDA told ‘The News’ that there are hundreds and hundreds of files lying pending for many months now with CDA Board Members as those are not even taken up in the important meetings, causing problems to the general public as well as the staff of the CDA, mainly owing to lack of decision taking powers and weak administration. And deciding all those cases and issues on ‘Merit’ is bound to raise a lot of dust!

Another big problem confronting the new chairman would be to deal with the issue of officers working in the CDA on deputation basis. There are a number of officers who joined the authority on deputation basis, initially for a tenure of three years, but later got their stay extended as they found the working condition in the CDA most suitable for them.

Some of these officers have even completed the maximum period of five years allowed under service on deputation away from their parent department but still they are not willing to return. Instead, they are trying hard to get ‘absorbed’ in the CDA and some are even defying the official orders of their return and report to their parent departments because the conditions are too lucrative for them in the CDA.

Yet another issue to be dealt with would be the new departments that were created in the authority over the last six years on the pretext of running the affairs of the CDA smoothly. However, the sources in the authority told ‘The News’ that instead of providing any relief and improving the work these new departments caused discontentment and even at times direct confrontation with other directorates, causing hurdles instead of ironing out differences.

In the recent past the CDA had repeatedly announced throwing open new residential sectors to deal with the nagging issue of housing in the federal capital. However, all this had been just ‘sweet talk’ and the CDA had hardly been able to get complete possession of Sector I-11, that was opened almost 40 years ago and Sector D-12, which was inaugurated by Ms Benazir Bhutto (Shaheed) when she became the Prime Minister of the country for the first time 21 years ago in 1988! Meanwhile, Sectors I-14, I-16 and E-12 were launched a minimum of 10 years ago but no civic amenities have been provided there, enabling people to take over possession of their plots and start construction of their homes. Sector I-15 was launched four years ago and this has created a unique history as the allottees of flats in this sector have started drawing back the money that they have paid!

The silver lining in this dark picture of the affairs of the CDA seems to be the fact that after a long time in the history of the authority a senior officer of Grade-21, with a vast administrative experience, has taken over the reigns of the affairs. However, alone he would hardly be able to make any difference. It is yet to be seen as to how he would be going about to deal with the host of these tricky issues and situations to implement that he has promised; ‘good governance’, ‘merit’ and ‘transparency’!

— Mobarik A. Virk

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=185760