Financial crunch: CDA defaults on Rs 256 million payment to IESCO

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

* IESCO may cut power supply to CDA office, as it did last year
* Civic body’s spokesman dubs it ‘not a big issue’

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Capital Development Authority (CDA) is defaulting on payment of Rs 256 million electricity bills to Islamabad Electricity Supply Corporation (IESCO). This non-payment is creating inter-departmental disputes between these two institutes.

It is learnt that the IESCO has issued a notice to the CDA calling for payment of electricity bills. Sources said keeping streetlights on is an obligation of CDA. In the past, the CDA used to make payments timely but now that the civic body was facing a financial crunch, it had been defaulting on payments, they said.

Last summer too, electricity supply to CDA’s Works Department, established in the old Naval Headquarters building, was disconnected due to non-payment of bills and CDA Member (Engineering) Abdul Jabbar Moula along with other nine officials had to suffer a lot, they said. The supply was restored only after payment of dues, they added, but the civic body seemed to have learnt no lesson from this episode.

It is being feared that IESCO will disconnect supply of electricity to a CDA office once again to take its money back, as they did last year.

CDA Spokesman Ramzan Sajid said the CDA paid Rs 10-12 million bills to IESCO monthly. For the last one or two months, the dues had not been paid, he said. The issue had been discussed with IESCO and all outstanding dues would be cleared next month. He said the IESCO had issued notices to many departments including the CDA and it was not a big issue.