ISLAMABAD: The installation of cybernetic fountains, placed around the capital city by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) at a cost of Rs90 million, have been beset by serious procedural irregularities since the project was first launched in 2009.

Although the project was not properly executed, CDA released Rs20 million to the contractor in January this year which the civic authority had earlier withheld to get the contractor to properly install and make operational five of the eight cybernetic fountains, according to documents available with Dawn.

The withheld amount was to be paid for another project the contractor was working on for the “Renovation of CDA Offices”.

“The contractor had already been paid for the [fountains] project and a few months back, our bosses also released the amount withheld from him. But the ground reality is that the fountains have never properly operated so far,” a CDA official told Dawn.

Funds have been provided to the contractor despite the fact that fountains are still not running

On a visit to the sites for five of the fountains, Dawn found that they had been closed and cordoned off for “maintenance and cleaning”. On the other hand, sources said that the fountains have faults and cannot be operated properly.

About the remaining three cybernetic fountains, Director General Environment Dr Suleman Sheikh claimed that two of them which were installed on Murree Road, one at Rawal Dam Chowk and the other on Kashmir Highway, were “completely damaged” during a rally held against a blasphemous film in 2012.

When asked if CDA had lodged an FIR over the incident, Mr Sheikh said: “No, we did not register an FIR but we have mentioned the incident in our files.”

He went on to say that the last of the fountains which was installed at Peshawar Mor was dismantled during the construction of an overhead bridge.

Contrary to CDA claims, sources said that all eight fountains have serious technical faults which is why they have never been functional.

“Both the fountains were faulty, so when a mob descended on the site, CDA and the contractor saw an opportunity to shift the blame on to the protesters and closed the chapter for good,” said an official at the Environment Directorate.

According to CDA’s fact-finding inquiry report, which was carried out by three members in June 2015 and which is available with Dawn, several serious violations were committed during the project since 2009 and that residents of the city are yet to see a dancing cybernetic fountain, other than the few days for which three of them on 7th Avenue and Shaheen Chowk were operational.

According to the report, the project was carried out without the approval of a PC-1 and the estimate for the project is based on a quotation picked up from the Chinese manufacturer’s website, thus promoting propriety items in violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules. In further violation of PPRA Regulations, tenders for the project were called from a select list of contractors.

Adding to the irregularities faced by the project, the contractor also submitted a fake bank guarantee, which he rectified a few years later after the Federal Investigation Agency probed the matter.

The report also goes on to say that technical assistance had not been provided by Chinese experts as stipulated in the contract, which sources said is the main reason that the fountains could not be operated.

The fountains could not be operated, the report says, despite spending Rs90 million on the project from its inception till June 2015 and suggests the Environment Directorate take remedial measures to make the fountains functional.

After the report, the Environment Directorate sprung into action the beginning of this year and managed to make the fountains operate, if only partially as they remain out of order most of the time due to technical faults.

The DG Environment, on the other hand, says the contractor is busy maintaining and cleaning the fountains, which will be made operational within a few days.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2016