Computerisation of land records at a halt

[Salman]

Peshawar: The project aimed at computerising property tax records, launched by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Excise and Taxation Department (E&T) in 2005, is at a standstill as employees in the department remain unpaid.

According to a news source, the project, which employed computer experts to create a database for land records, was not extended due to a dearth of operational funds to pay salaries and a lack of government interest.

Project staff and E&T department officials blame the Planning & Development Department (P&D) for not granting an extension while P&D officials say the former is delaying PC-1 for the project.

Employees are now requesting an extension of three and a half years to finish this project and claim that if it is not granted, the E&T department will lose revenue generated from property tax collections.

P&D Rural Development chief Muhammed Islam stated that the project could not be extended without approval of the Chief Minister as it had already been extended twice in the past. According to him, the only viable solution is to either regularise staff or stop work on the project all together.

Since 2005, the project has cost PKR 129.89 million and granting an extension would increase costs to PKR 189 million. However, project manager Arsalan Ahmed Khan told a news source that high as the costs may be, the project has also generated a PKR2.7 billion revenue for the department.