CDA fails to start development work

[Salman]

CDA fails to start development work

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has fallen short of its commitment to start development work at its dream project ‘Park Enclave’ by fourth week of this month.

CDA Chairman Farkhand Iqbal while talking to ‘The News’ on March 31 had given his words that the development work at the sector, which was launched in July last year, would begin exactly 21 days after.

A senior official of the civic, however, told this correspondent on Monday that it would take at least two months to kick off civil work including construction of approach roads to the main road.

Requesting not to be named, the official said that the contract of the development work would be awarded through pre-qualification of contractors.“The final decision will be taken on chairman’s return from China,” he said.

The earlier tendering process which became controversial when the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) raised objections over the exercise writing a letter to the Capital Development Authority in first week of January informing its management about serious objections raised by three out of four short-listed contractors to pre-qualification criteria set for awarding the Rs3 billion contract of infrastructure works in Park Enclave.

In response, the incumbent chairman decided to cancel the whole tendering process saying that he would go for open tendering instead of pre-qualification of procedure.
The CDA official said to start with they would give an advertisement in newspapers calling tenders for raising boundary wall around the sector.

“We need to construct boundary wall to prevent encroachment of sector’s land,” he said adding that presently they are in processing of finalising designs.The sources in CDA said that it was yet to be decided whether the final contractor would be picked up through pre-qualification process or open tendering.

The civic body, which is facing worst fiscal crisis, was expected to raise around Rs5 billion from sale of residential sectors having all the plots measuring 500 square yards each