Mangla Dam Refurbishment: Plea against contract disposed of

LAHORE:  

Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday disposed of a petition challenging the award of a contract for the refurbishment of Mangla Dam allegedly to a blacklisted French company Alstom Hydro in violation of rules. A counsel for the government assured that court that the contract would not be given to any black listed company. Ali Javed Dogar, a concerned citizen, had moved the petition. His counsel Sheraz Zaka submitted that awarding the contract to the French company was unlawful under Clause 59/1 of the contract rules. He said Alstom Hydro was a subsidiary of a blacklisted French company Alstom SA, which had been recently indicted by a US court for a $770million fine. He said that in light of a superior court judgement a contract of worth Rs10 billion involving public money could not be given to a company whose parent company was debarred or blacklisted. The lawyer had requested the court to summon details of the contract and restrain the respondent from awarding the contract to the company.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2016.