RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has sought details of funds spent on development projects launched in Rawalpindi by the PML-N government from 2008 to 2018.

A senior offi cial of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) told Dawn that the civic agency had been asked to furnish the details of the expenditures incurred on the projects during the 10 years of the PML-N government in the province.

He said the civic body had files of all the projects but there was no computer record.

The official said the RDA was collecting the records and would send the photocopies to the government.

On the other hand, the government is yet to decide how to audit the development funds - whether through the accountant general of Punjab or by hiring a private firm.

A senior official of the district administration said every year the accountant general conducted an audit of all the departments and it had the reports but the PTI-led government wanted to check if there had been embezzlement in the metro bus project.

PTI-led govt wants to check if there was embezzlement in metro bus project, official says

He said if a private fi rm was hired to audit the records of 10 years the government would have to pay a hefty amount as a fee to the company.

He said it would be a futile exercise as many cases were already pending with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the previous government had adopted all the formalities in the development projects and executed them as per rules of the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

Apparently, the new audit would be a political stunt, he remarked.

When contacted, PML-N leader and former MNA Malik Shakil Awan told Dawn that the government would find nothing wrong against the PML-N as all the funds were spent on public welfare schemes.

He said the PML-N government completed all the projects in the stipulated time and saved millions from these schemes.

An audit of funds has also been conducted in the past and the PTI failed to find anything against the PML-N.

“The inefficient PTI government failed to deliver in three months since it came to power and is using such tactics to divert people’s attention from its poor performance.

“The PTI government has made the lives of the citizens miserable by increasing tariffs of gas and electricity,” he said.

When contacted, RDA Chairman Arif Abbasi confirmed that the government had sought the details of all development projects launched during the last 10 years in the city areas to check if proper formalities had been adopted in the contract procedures or not.

He said the PTI government wanted to streamline things and would recover any embezzled funds.

He said he had asked the RDA to provide the records to the government to start an audit.

In reply to a question, Mr Abbasi said a third-party evaluation would be conducted on LehNullah Expressway and the metro bus projects.

However, he said, it was yet to be decided whether a private firm would be hired or the accountant general would carry out the job.

There were reports about embezzlement of funds as the PML-N claimed that it spent billions of rupees during the last five years but the condition of the city is still the same as it was 10 years ago, he said.

Mr Abbasi said he also had asked the RDA to start action against illegal housing societies and check if those given approval by the civic body had fulfilled the criteria or not.

He said many housing societies had also sold plots allocated for parks, schools, colleges and mosques.

Under the law, all facilities should be available in new housing societies otherwise the no-objection certifi cates (NOCs) would not be issued to them.

“We have planned to upload all the details about the legal, illegal and under process housing societies within the limits of the RDA on our website for the information of the citizens.”

The RDA chairman said he had also directed the RDA to upload the plot allotment forms of housing societies on the RDA website so the owners would not sell extra forms.

“If a housing society has 400 plots it would be allowed to sell only 400 forms verified by the RDA,” he added.

He said he had asked the RDA to expedite the work on issuing NOCs to housing societies which had applied and implement the new rules.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2018