IN a welcome development, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has decided to go paperless by starting an e-filing system and digitization in order to improve its service delivery system. All the service deliveries, including auction of plots and approval of building plans, would be done online and electronic certificates would be issued. The Authority is also going to introduce online service for issuance of birth certificates, payment of property tax, plot charges, etc, and for that purpose an application would be also introduced for making online payments.
It is a matter of record that the Federal Capital owes its development to the vision and hard work of the Capital Development Authority. The authority remained instrumental in resolving day-to-day problems of the residents and creation of new civic facilities for them. It achieved some milestones in recent years by meeting development expenditures from its own resources and sorting out irritants in the way of development of new sectors, particularly the Park Enclave scheme. CDA is also busy, these days, in executing the project for expansion and improvement of Islamabad Expressway which is the nerve centre of traffic and mobility in and around the capital. Its completion would go a long way in making journey on the Expressway safe and smooth for hundreds of thousands of daily commuters. The decision to digitize almost all operations of the civic body was overdue and has the potential to promote transparency in the working of the organization. There have been complaints of palm-greasing in issuance of various NOCs and approval, especially for building plans. Similarly, there have also been reports about disappearance of records pertaining to ownership of plots and properties, raising concerns about genuineness of sale/purchase deeds. The digitization would, hopefully, address all such concerns and would prove to be a step towards transparency and good governance.
