Funds paucity hits CDA's 27 projects hard

ISLAMABAD (APP)- The Capital Development Authority (CDA) could not initiate as many as 27 projects worth above four billion rupees in the fiscal year 2008-09 due to one or the other reasons, including law and order situation, scarcity of funds and replacement of CDA chief.
According to official document of CDA’s budget 2008-09, the Authority had announced to execute as many as 111 projects which included 14 projects planned under Public Sector Development Programme while rest of the projects were to be executed by the CDA through its own resources.
The Authority presented the budget 2008-09 with the outlay of Rs 25.8 billion and announced that most of the projects would be finance by CDA while the federal government would give funds of just Rs392.114 million.
According to a senior CDA official, the Authority had been facing the financial crunch due to financial meltdown in international market. Due to such circumstances, the Authority could not put any of its plots on auction but the process was restored in last quarter of the fiscal year.
Secondly, soon after the announcement of annual budget, an uncertainty prevailed in the CDA as the news of the replacement of the then CDA chief were roaming around and the spell continued until Tariq Mehmood Khan replaced Lashari in October 2008.
Though the new CDA chief came up with firm determination to make Islamabad more green and beautiful, some factors including financial crunch, law and order and some political turmoil hindered the execution of his ideas.