ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: Driving around the capital city, Mahreen Aslam of F-10 sector is utterly frustrated with the poor condition of roads.

She has a reason: “I pay my motor vehicle tax, then why this inconvenience. Look at the road; it’s getting worse by the day.”

However, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is yet to repair most of the potholes and cracks developed on different roads.

“This is because we received only Rs9 million in October, the first installment in the current fiscal year, for the road maintenance in the whole city,” said an official of the CDA engineering department.Incidentally, the residents of Islamabad are paying their taxes for using the roads and the Islamabad administration is collecting around Rs1.5 billion every year in terms of the duty on vehicles registered in the federal capital.

“But that amount is not utilised by us, all of it is transferred to the accounts of the interior ministry,” said a senior official of the ICT administration. “We do not even get anything in return.”

While the ICT administration comes under the interior ministry, the CDA, which is responsible for maintaining roads and footpaths, is under the Cabinet Division.

Due to the lack of maintenance and repair, more residents have started feeling the jerks from potholes, craters and even cracks on the roads.

“It is a dilemma that stagnant rainwater splashed over the passing cars and motorcycles; this is actually insulting for us,” Ms Mahreen said.

The conditions of the roads have not only deteriorated in the middle class sectors but also in the posh areas where one finds numerous spots showing signs of the road degradations.

Even moving on the main highways like 7th Avenue and its connecting roads, one finds cracks visible at several points.

The officials said the conditions of the inner roads can be turned around if Rs2 million was provided to the civic agency.

The patchworks and other minor repairs are done by the road maintenance department of the CDA whereas the reconstruction of any existing road is carried out by a contractor hired through tendering.

“We were expecting Rs40 million to rebuild a few roads this year,” the official said.

Nevertheless, the CDA has never taken up the matter with the relevant authorities for transferring the funds generated through the motor vehicle tax.

“It has been discussed internally and even at the parliamentary committee level, but the top bosses of the CDA have always tried to remain in good terms with the bureaucracy, especially the interior ministry,” said one of the CDA members who did not want to be named.

Besides, other avenues of revenue generation have also been closed for the civic body by the interior ministry.

“The last hope for generating finances was the collection from toll plazas and that is also ending too,” said an official of the CDA.

The I.J. Principal Road toll plaza used to generate Rs15 million per month for the CDA but it has been abolished. The Kashmir Highway toll plaza near Golra Mor generated Rs9 million monthly. Though this toll plaza is set to be abolished on November 6, its revenue has already dropped after the I.J. principal road toll plaza was closed as all the heavy traffic has started moving on that side.

However, the Islamabad toll plaza at Rawat, set to be abolished on January 17, 2014, is generating around Rs5 million monthly.

These revenue sources are being abolished on the directive of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. Soon after taking the charge, the minister announced his decision on June 20 that these toll plazas caused inconvenience to the residents of the twin cities.

However, neither the interior ministry is willing to hand over the amount generated through the motor vehicle tax to the CDA and nor the latter is asking the Cabinet division to grant this fund to the civic agency. As a result, the residents continue suffering due to the poor conditions of the roads.