ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has deputed two officers at the level of a director general to address public complaints and restore ‘Islamabad the Beautiful’.

Both officials have been made answerable to the authority’s members finance and engineering to ensure their decisions are implemented promptly.

CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed for the city to be restored. He said Rs54 billion recently generated by the CDA will be spent on the city.

He added that two SUVs being used by the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) management will now be turned into operational vehicles.

Earlier this week, the CDA took over four MCI directorates - its environment wings, including urban, regional and parks, the Directorate of Sanitation and City Sewerage and the Directorate of Water, bulk water supply and water and sewerage development, and the Directorate of Engineering, including the Machinery Pool Organisation (MPO), streetlights and market roads and maintenance.

Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz resigned the following day, saying that he had been pushed to a wall and it was no longer possible to serve the residents of the capital.

Two DGs deputed to address complaints, restore capital

CDA spokesperson Mazhar Hussain said the decision to take over the four directorates was made in response to complaints from Islamabad residents.

“Residents were facing a number of issues related to water, sanitation, environment, roads, etc. The management of the CDA has appointed Mr Naveed Tareen as the director general environment and he will be responsible for addressing the issues of parks, horticulture, sanitation, etc and will report to Member Finance Rana Shakeel,” he said.

Member Engineering Ayaz Khan has been directed to ensure the repair of streetlights and the carpeting of roads, he added.

Mr Ahmed, the authority’s chairman, told Dawn that he pulled staff out of their homes on the weekend and remained on the roads himself to give a clear message that everyone will have to give 100pc.

“The fact is that nothing has been done in the last four years due to which it has been decided to do tendering of whole Islamabad to restore ‘Islamabad the Beautiful’. We have generated Rs54 billion, which will be spent on residents of the federal capital as there is a clear direction from Prime Minister Imran Khan to restore the city,” he said.

Mr Ahmed said tenders will take 20 days, after which the restoration of the city will be visible day by day.

According to a statement, the chairman and other officers were in the field on Saturday to monitor the progress of road, market and street maintenance, park upkeep, sanitation, streetlights and horticulture.

Sanitation staff will continue a special cleanliness operation today (Sunday) and special teams have been formed for this purpose, it added. The teams will clean markets, sectors and open spaces.

Residents have been asked not to burn heaps of garbage in green areas and open spaces, and sanitation staff will work in shifts to remove garbage dumps in open spaces and other parts of the city.

On Saturday, the MPO continued carpeting Islamabad Expressway. The eastern side of the expressway is being repairs in the first phase, after which repairs will be carried out on the western side.

The environment wing, assisted by the Islamabad Capital Territory, removed wild growth in F-9 Park, where work on lighting has also been taken up. Around 1,500 environment wing officials were deputed to remove wild growth and carry out other beautification work around the city.

The road maintenance directorate carried out patch work and repair maintenance on Jinnah Avenue, Abbas Center, Rehman Plaza in Blue Area and in F-10 Markaz, while the installation and painting of curb stones on Daman-i-Koh Pir Sohawa Road, Agha Khan Road, and Super Market F-6 was also taken up.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2020