— ECP imposed ban on April 11 over approving development funds to discourage pre-poll rigging
—PM Abbasi approved the release of funds on April 17 only to fulfill demands of CADD Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while setting aside the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), has granted approval for an amount of Rs 10 billion and 75 crores for phase-III of signal-free expressway of Islamabad, Pakistan Today has reliably learned.
Surprisingly, the election commission imposed a ban on April 11, 2018, over granting of development funds, ostensibly to discourage pre-poll rigging. The election commission issued the order, effective from April 1, apparently to prevent ruling parties at the centre and in the provinces to use job quotas and funds as a political bribe to get votes in the upcoming general elections.
However, the prime minister granted approval on April 17 for the release of this heavy amount only to fulfill the demands of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry just ahead of the expiry of the tenure of the incumbent government.
The premier also ordered the finance ministry to immediately release Rs 1 billion to Capital Development Authority (CDA) to immediately initiate work on the 18-kilometre-long signal-free expressway project, scheduled to be completed by 2020.
A copy of a letter issued by the PM’s Office which is available with Pakistan Today disclosed that PM Abbasi had given approval of a grant to CDA for phase-III of the signal-free expressway.
“In view of the increasing imperative to expand and make the Islamabad Expressway signal-free in order to manage the growing light and heavy vehicular traffic in the country’s capital and in consideration of CDA’s resource deficiency, as explained in para 7 of the summary, the prime minister was pleased to approve a grant of Rs 10,750 million for the authority, so as to enable it to execute phase-III of the expressway project,” the letter stated.
In his letter, the prime minister also directed the officials concerned that a token amount of Rs 1,000 million shall be released during the current financial year as a supplementary development grant to allow CDA to initiate work immediately.
Similarly, Rs 7,000 million shall be allocated for the project in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2018-19, and an amount of Rs 2,750 million shall be allocated for the project in PSDP 2019-20.
Likewise, PM Abbasi further directed that CDA shall complete package-A by June 30, 2019, and package-B by September 30, 2019. He also said that while executing the project, the authority shall also prepare a detailed traffic plan, in particular for the management of heavy traffic.
“The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform, Finance Division, and CDA shall take further action accordingly for implementation of the PM’s orders,” the letter further said.
Sources in CADD Ministry said that PM Abbasi had given the approval allegedly in violation of an ECP order only to satisfy the demand of the CADD minister. They said Abbasi had directed the officials concerned to immediately release Rs 1 billion to CDA for initiation of work on the project, apparently because the constitutional tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was going to expire on May 31, while CDA would require at least three to four months for fair and proper planning and initiation of work on the multi-billion rupees project.
It is worth mentioning here that work on the 24-kilometre-long phase-III signal-free expressway was started in July 2015. However, this project could not be completed in the decided time of two years due to various reasons. More, construction work on phase-II of the project was still incomplete and so far, only four-kilometre-long phase-I had been completed. An inquiry was currently underway in connection with the bidding process of the contract.
