Sports Development or "The Contractor League"?

 

Musarrat Ullah Jan – KikxNow , digital creator

Development work is supposed to be for the public good — to construct, enhance, and provide opportunity. But where "development" is a corruption playground, the only one that gets developed is one's bank account. Unfortunately, this is the tale of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sports Directorate, where sports projects are now a championship of commissions.

In 35 districts, dozens of sports facilities projects are technically "in progress." Paper-wise, the province is sprinting toward a rosy sporting future. But reality-wise, most fields are vacant, and most commitments are half-constructed — as are the walls of their purported development schemes.

Among the largest of these initiatives is the "1,000 Sports Facilities Project," which aims to deliver sports infrastructure to all districts. It boasts Project Directors, Deputy Directors, Sub Engineers — a whole battalion of officers committed to "development." But the only thing which appears to be developing is the skill of documentation.

In real life, this megaproject has turned into a masterclass in how to create PowerPoint slides that appear more improved than real progress. Contractors began, constructed half the buildings, and vanished along with payments. Others ceased because their invoices weren't settled. And in meetings, these identical unfinished ventures are then flaunted through glossy slides as "ongoing."

It is almost poetic — a sports development project that is only in presentations, not in playgrounds it had vowed.

The term "work in progress" has turned into a government mantra. Each time you query an officer regarding a stalled project, the response is the same: "Work is under process."

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, "under process" means "don't hold your breath."

Consider the case of the delay-plagued Athletics Ground in Peshawar. It was to be finished in two years. Four years down the line, the only thing that has increased is the budget — and, incidentally, the commissions. Each cost revision has a corresponding revision of "personal gains."

But no one is brave enough to ask why it's late. Questioning in the Directorate is bowling a bouncer to the chairman — technically within the rules, but career-ending.

In Khyber, Kurram, Parachinar, and other districts, initiatives such as hockey turfs and football grounds are on paper. Boards are fixed, inaugurations are performed, photographs are clicked — and progress stops there.

In a few instances, the inauguration ceremony was the sole building activity that ever materialized. The irony is unparalleled: the government is unable to construct a hockey turf, yet it can hold three inauguration ceremonies for the same facility.

Those districts are ideal hunting grounds for the "contractor league" — low media scrutiny, little public pressure, and great bureaucratic comfort. The projects live on paperwork, not on progress.

If there were a league for "financial fitness," the development officers would be national champions.

When they came to join the ministry, they owned a motorcycle and a rented house. A couple of years later — three cars, two pieces of land, a city house, and children abroad studying. Not bad for someone "developing sports."

 

Or maybe they're the real athletes — running through papers, juggling payments, and hefting the burden of public money with great endurance.

The irony is that this system pays those who procrastinate. The longer a project lingers, the more "revisions" it requires, and each revision translates to new paychecks — and new cuts. Nobody prefers to wrap up the project because a finished project means the flow of money ceases.

Each project has an independent monitoring budget — ie, public funds are employed to supervise the abuse of public funds. Most of these monitoring officers do not go down to the sites. They write "satisfactory progress" reports from their offices, normally depending on pictures sent via email by contractors.

It's a well-rehearsed act:  Contractor emails old pictures, Engineer writes progress as 80%, Officer stamps "satisfactory," And everybody wins — except the public.

Why doesn't anyone ask anything about it? Because everyone is a player in the game.

The contractor bribes the officer, the officer bribes the superior, and the superior makes sure the reports are "positive." It's an informal alliance — one where truth is the sole disqualification.

When someone asks why a project has not been finished in four years, they're informed, "Funds delayed," or "Weather complications," or the tried-and-true "Administrative challenges.

The actual stumbling block, of course, is greed — and it's the only thing that functions flawlessly in this system.

As millions disappear into "development," young sportspeople all over the province are left with barren fields and shattered promises.

The same kids these schemes were supposed to inspire now play cricket on pavements, football on uneven grounds, and fantasize about buildings that only exist in reports.

Development is meant to be progress — not paperwork. But here, it's become a habit of opening new projects without finishing old ones, so new budgets can cover up old flops.

Every unfinished project is a basis for another, and the cycle goes on — feeding the same individuals who were meant to be held accountable.

If ever the development projects of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were audited openly, most "champions of development" would be found defending not their projects, but their properties. Their performance reports may glitter, but their bank accounts will have the true tale to tell.

The reality is that these development projects are a game in themselves — a high-stakes tournament with only one rule: grab your share and shut your mouth.

The contractors play for profit, the officers play for commission, and the athletes — the supposed beneficiaries — don't even get a seat in the stadium.

Costs of this kind are not intended to be a reward for bureaucratic collaboration Until the tough questions are asked — until government, media, and public insist on transparency — this "Contractor League" will continue to operate, season after season.

 

Not sports development, but sports deception — a game where corruption scores all the goals, and the public always takes the loss.

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#SportsCorruption #KPKSports #TaxMoneyGone #DevelopmentDrama #ContractorLeague #KPKScandal