CAA fails to fix responsibility for irregularities in IIA: PAC body briefed

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials on Wednesday failed to reveal the names of the officials who caused Rs 68 billion financial loss to national kitty by delaying the completion of Islamabad International Airport.
In a briefing to the sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee probing the causes of delaying the completion of Islamabad International Airport, the officials of Auditor General Pakistan (AGP) said that the construction of the airport was delayed almost for 10 years and as a result the cost of the project reached Rs 105 billion from original estimate of Rs 37 billion.
The meeting which held under the chairmanship of Syed Fakhar Imam, MNA of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI,) was informed that the project was inaugurated in 2007 to be completed within two years but the CAA kept lingering on the completion.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has set up a sub-committee to fix responsibility for irregularities in the new Islamabad International Airport (IIA), which cost Rs68 billion more than its first estimate.
The AGP officials said that the Project Concept-I (PC-1) for the project was drafted in March 2008, when the cost of the project was estimated at Rs 37 billion. The PC-I underwent a review in 2014 when the project cost was revised to Rs 81 billion.
It underwent a second review in March 2018 when its cost was revised to Rs 105 billion. The project took eight years to complete and it cost Rs 68 billion more than the original estimate.
The auditor general added that based on their audit of the discrepancies in the project, four cases were sent to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) while Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) conducted a comprehensive inquiry into the matter. Moreover, the inquiry named every person who was involved in irregularities.
Briefing the panel, chairman Pakistan Engineering Council said that billions of rupees were plundered through intellectual corruption in the project. The CAA officials were again and again questioned by the PAC members to reveal the names of the people responsible for such a huge financial loss to national kitty but they kept on diverting the discussion on drafted briefing. The NAB officials also failed to name the individuals involved in corruption.
The panel asked the CAA officials to bring all the details of the project with fixing responsibility on the officials who caused delay in the project which resulted in cost escalation of the project from Rs 37 billion to Rs 105 billion within 10 years.
The panel also directed NAB to present the findings of its probe in the project within 14 days, otherwise stern action as per law will be taken against those hiding the facts from the Parliament.