Former Chief Minister Sindh Arbab Rahim allotted 250 acres of land in Korangi area of metropolis without the approval of provincial cabinet and Rate Assessment Committee to National Industrial Parks (NIP) Development & Management Company for industrialisation allegedly on whim of Former Federal Minister Industries Jahangir Tareen.
The land was allotted by flouting the rules after then Federal Minister for Industries Jahangir Tareen held a meeting with former Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim for transfer of land in favour of NIP Company, a report of Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Sindh revealed on Thursday.
Report, which was submitted in Sindh High Court (SHC) in connection with the litigation on 40 acres of land out of 250 acres made revelations that the land was allotted to NIP without following the relevant rules and regulations.
According to the report, then Federal Industries Minister Jahangir Tareen asked former Sindh CM in 2004 that an industrial park would be constituted on the land in question, which would be inaugurated by Prime Minister of Malaysia.
According to Tareen, this industrial park would boost the industrial sector in the country, however, the industrial park was never established.
The plots on the said land were allotted at the rate of Rs50,000 per acre to the handicapped persons on the pretext of setting up industry, however which never has been the case on ground.
Report disclosed that provincial government has not been given revenue profit since then. On the contrary, land of provincial government has also been usurped.
Report indicated that allotment of land through misleading commitment resulting into non-utilisation of land and its allotment to handicapped person in the garb of industrialisation and charging development charges from individuals for profit making caused loss to provincial kitty to the tune of Rs2.5 billion.
NIP has failed to complete project but its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) spent Rs19 million on travelling. CEO has been paid millions of rupees as honorarium and purchased office furniture and laptop from Dubai and awarded contracts in violation of rules of SPPRA, report revealed.
It mentioned that NIP is subsidiary of Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) and was supposed to receive the funds from it or from Public Sector Development Programme. Instead, it obtained Rs2 billion loans on high interest rates from Emirate Global Islamic Bank (Now Al-Barkha Bank).
It was agreed that the one percent of the loan would be paid by the company and rest by the government on its behalf against share in equity, report disclosed.
Report stated that after completion of inquiry it revealed that said piece of land was not utilised, for the purpose it was obtained and proposed that its allotment should be cancelled and should be retrieved by Sindh Government through provincial Revenue Department.
Comments
Comments are closed.