islamabad - The Capital Development Authority (CDA) faced a loss of over one billion rupees due to non-recording of detailed measurements of work done in measurements books, an Audit has pointed out.
The audit for the financial year 2014-15 noted that paras 119 and 120 of CDA procedure manual part-3 (accounting procedure) provide that payments of all work done and all supplies are made on the basis of measurements should be recorded in the Measurements Books(MB). All measurements should be neatly taken down in a MB issued for the purpose and nowhere else. As all payments of work are based on the quantities recoded in the MB, it is incumbent on the person taking measurements to record quantities clearly and accurately.
Audit observed that Deputy Director, works division-1, CDA made payments of Rs469.16 million on account of work done of the project “Construction of 104 family suits, parliament lodges, Islamabad” but detailed measurements of work done were not carried out and recorded in the MB.
Measurements submitted by the contractor were checked by the consultants and abstract thereof was recoded in MB and these measurements sheets of Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs) were termed as MB.
It was further observed that in the work “improvement and widening of Kashmir Highway, Peshawar Mor to Golra Mor, South Carriageway (Section-1)” Pre-measurement forms/computer forms were used for making payments, without exercising test checks by the CDA project engineer. Deputy Director Roads (north), CDA made payments of Rs982.97 million to the contractor through twenty eight IPCs on the basis of abstract without carrying out and recording detailed measurements in MB. This resulted in irregular payments of Rs1452.13 million.
Audit maintained that the non-recording of detailed measurements was due to weak internal controls and inadequate oversight mechanism for enforcing relevant rules and regulations.
Audit pointed out the irregularities in March 2014 and July 2014. The Authority replied that the consultant of the project was responsible for detailed supervision and measurement of the work done and the record entries/sheets were authenticated by the project consultant.
All the contents of verified IPCs could not be recorded in the conventional MB. The reply was not accepted because payments for all work done were required to be made on the basis of detailed measurements recorded in hand-written MB being a mandatory/permanent record.
The matter was discussed in the Departmental Audit Committee meeting held on January 15, 2015. CDA explained that technical construction supervision of the project was assigned to the consultant and all the payments were made on the basis of IPCs verified by him. The committee was not convinced and directed CDA to make record entries in the Measurement Books as per detailed work done at site and get it verified from Audit within fifteen days. The compliance of DAC’s directives was not made till the finalisation of this report.