Safe Cities Authority cost up by Rs810m

At the launch of the project, its cost was Rs13.817 billion


Muhammad Shahzad October 26, 2017
Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif has promoted the safe cities project PHOTO: NNI

LAHORE: The cost to establish Punjab Safe Cities Authority, Lahore has been increased by Rs810.749 million.

According to the third revised PC-I documents, available with The Express Tribune, the gestation period of the project has been delayed till March 13, 2018. At the launch of the project, its cost was Rs13.817 billion.

“In September 2015, the Project Monitoring Unit prepared PC-I for the technology solution provision for PPIC3 centre Lahore outlined a total cost of Rs13.817 billion. The PC-I was discussed in the Provincial Development Working Party (PDWP) meeting on August 3, 2015 and subsequently at the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on August 3, 2015,” the document stated.

Safe Cities: CM says work nearing completion

In March 2016, Huawei was awarded a contract for being the lowest bidder. “The PC-I was brought into first revision based on the technical and financial proposals of Huawei and modified human resource requirements for the centre and PMU. The first revised PC-I, amounting to Rs13,717.050 million, was approved by PDWP in its meeting held on August 8, 2016,” the document said. In the second revised PC-I, the gestation period of the project was modified till December 31, 2017, but the cost remained the same.

“Keeping in view the cost variation in EPC contract agreement, signed between the PSCA and Huawei Technologies Pakistan Pvt Limited, due to changes in BOQ, final price of the second revised PC-I has also changed. The total cost of the third revised PC-I is amounting to Rs14,527.799 million.

Along with the changes in total cost, the gestation period of PC-I has also been extended till March 3, 2018,” according to the document.

Following is the breakdown of different costs of the project in different PC-I.

Technology Implementation Cost

In PC-I (2015), cost was  Rs12,832.245 million. In the first revised PC-I, it was decreased to Rs11,277.364 million. In the second revised PC-I (June 2017), it remained constant. In the third revised PC-I, it rose up to Rs12,855.904 million. A difference of Rs1,578.54 million was observed in the second and the third revised PC-I.

After Lahore, six others to become ‘safer cities’

The justification for the increase in cost, as per the document, was that the original cost was based on expected figures. Meanwhile, the first and second revised versions were based on the EPC agreement signed with the contractor. The third revised version was based on variations in the EPC agreement price and the same has been approved by the authority.

PPIC3 Centre Salary Cost

In PC-I, this cost was Rs243.243 million. In the first revised PC-I, it rose up to Rs394.525 million. It remained constant according to a second revised PC-I. In the third revised PC-I, it rose up to Rs488.738 million with an increase of Rs94.21 million. The justification given was that the extension in gestation period till March 31, 2017 led to the increase in overall costs for salaries. This increase is based on the expenditure incurred on salaries till June 2017.

Consultancies Cost

According to PC-I (2015), this cost was Rs256.127 million and rose to Rs440.414  million in the first revised version. It further increased to Rs640.414 million in the second revised PC-I. In the third revised PC-I, it went up to Rs740.414 million with a difference of Rs100.00 million when compared to the second revised PC-I. The increase in gestation period, as well as addition of TPV consultants, led to the increase in consultancies cost. This increase is in accordance with the expenditure already incurred on consultancies, justification given for the increase stated as per the document.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2017.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ