The research division has stated in its report that CDA did not provide an appropriate wood sample to conduct the nine necessary tests to specify the quality of wood. It said that it could conduct only two tests, out of which one proved that the wood’s quality was “below average”.
An official of the division said that the test returned 17 per cent moisture content of the wood, which should range from 9 to 12 per cent. “The wood might be out of season or of substandard quality,” the official added.
In a previous meeting, the committee had advised CDA to stop payments to the Parliament Lodges’ contractor, Fine Furnishers. But the CDA continued to make payments to the contractor.
CDA has provided Rs35 million in payments to the contractor.
The issue was taken up by the NA Standing Committee on House and Library after Senator Mian Raza Rabbani and MNA Bilal Yasin expressed dissatisfaction over the quality of furniture being fixed in the Parliament Lodges.
The committee had informed that the quality of wood and foam being fixed in Block A of the Parliament Lodges was lower than what was promised by the civic authority, which is in violation of rules of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.
FPRD in a letter addressed to NA Standing Committee on House and Library on October 15, 2010, had stated that it needed to conduct a total of nine tests to determine the quality of wood. These tests include wood identification, moisture content percentage, density, hardness, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, compression parallel to grain, compression perpendicular to grain and cleavage.
However, Parliament Lodges Directorate’s Deputy Director (Civil) Mukhtar Ahmed Khan insisted that CDA required only two out of the nine tests to determine the quality of wood.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2011.
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