Chitral MNA seeks removal of ‘flaws’ in Norwegian project

By Zar Alam Khan

ISLAMABAD, March 21, 2010: Member National Assembly from Chitral Shahzada Mohiuddin has expressed the fear that the Rs1 billion Norwegian-funded development project in his district may not achieve the desired results if flaws and lack of transparency in its execution system were not removed on time.

Talking to Dawn here, he said he had pointed out all the shortcomings and technical flaws to the Norwegian ambassador at a meeting in Islamabad and expressed the hope that the government of Norway would take timely steps to remove them in the best interest of the people of Chitral.

He said the five-year Chitral Integrated Area Development Project (CIADP) was launched in 2009 without taking stakeholders into confidence. Besides, the project has been contracted out to an Islamabad-based firm which has no experience of carrying out development work in the area. About 20 per cent of the funds would go to the firm which has hired offices in Islamabad and Chitral drawing extra finances from the project.

He said the firm had hired inexperienced human resource at the cost of quality project implementation. As a result, so far there have been no substantial development initiatives in areas where the firm claims it has launched works.   

The MNA said the people of his area welcomed the mega project and hoped that it would help build their capacities to meet the new challenges especially after the opening up of the valley with the construction of the Lowari Tunnel.

However, to attain the desired objectives it was imperative that the project responded to the needs of the local population. At the moment, he said, this does not seem to be happening leading to fears that incompetence and lack of transparency in the project execution may lead to wastage of the money.

Mr Mohiuddin also said representatives of almost all political parties in the district had expressed concern that they were not taken into confidence about the implementation of the project. He, however, regretted that the Norwegian authorities seemed to be in the dark about the flaws in the project implementation and how their taxpayers’ money would be utilised. 

He also pointed out that the Islamabad-based company should not play the role of an implementer because it lacked experience in understanding the local environment and requirements. The local communities should be involved in the development process because they have demonstrated in the past that projects executed with their participation had always been effective, efficient and sustainable.

He said the Norwegian authorities were even unable to say how much money had so far been released to the project and its different sectors.

When contacted, an official at the Norwegian embassy said they had hired the private firm through a transparent process which would implement the project in collaboration with the district government. He said they had briefed the MNA about the project in detail.-Dawn