Nuzhat Nazar & Zaheer Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: Capital Administration Development Division (CADD) has failed to resolve any of the prevailing issues in the federal capital seven years after its establishment.
CADD was envisaged in the eighteenth constitutional amendment as a dedicated division focused on solving the capital’s problems ranging from water scarcity to health issues to social and a significant rise in population due to migrations from KPK and tribal areas attributed to a wave of terrorism.
A minister for Capital Administration Development Division has a significant role to play as up to 24 different sectors fall under his domain including education, health, social and population welfare as well as capital development authority.
A CADD official while talking to Business Recorder said CADD has more than 24 entities working under it that include hospitals, education, social welfare, tourism, rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, population welfare, and CDA, thus the importance of the division cannot be ignored.
He added that with the new government, CADD is expected to work in a similar manner but re-structuring or merging of entities can be anticipated.
He said CADD is working on the issues facing the federal capital especially those relating to water and health. The water issue in the capital is serious but added that CADD is working to resolve the issue but due to a limited budget and resources, some plans are pending.
Polyclinic and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) are two major hospitals in the capital and both are subject to serious problems ranging from inadequate budget allocation to administrative issues, he said.
The project of extending Polyclinic has been lingering for the past one decade with no hope in sight while an immense load of patients on PIMS has adversely affected its capacity, he maintained.
He suggested that the new government should work on expanding the capacity of these two establishments and construct new hospitals as well.
Health Department of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office is responsible for maintaining health in the rural areas of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), he stated.
The new government needs to look into and revive a proposed plan of CADD to bring Basic Health Units (BHU) and the Rural Health Centres (RHC) under the umbrella of the ministry that has so far hit a snag due to failure to pursue the case effectively.
CADD is mandated to carry out the following main functions in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT): (i) execute the functions previously handled by the abolished Ministries/Divisions (in sectors like education, health, social welfare, special education, tourism, etc.) within the jurisdiction of the Federal Capital Area; (ii) look after administrative and personnel matters of the various departments and organizations of the devolved Ministries placed under administrative control of CADD; (iii) look after all technical matters related to the attached departments/sub-ordinate offices of the division; (iv) take over and continue the ICT components of the ongoing PSDP projects of devolved Ministries as allocated by the Planning Commission; and (v) all the matters related to the execution of development projects of attached department/sub-ordinate offices, independent entities and organizations under the administrative control of the Ministry.
Nazar Muhammad Gondal was appointed as first chairman of CAD ministry after the establishment of CAD ministry in March 31, 2011. Subsequently, he was replaced by Barrister Usman Ibrahim.
On August 4, 2017, with re-organization of CAD ministry into CAD Division, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry MNA as State Minister for CADD, a long term party loyalist.
During PML-N tenure a cabinet committee had recommended abolishing CADD and referring the departments working under it to line ministries, however, the idea was suppressed.
