Parliament lodges: NA panel calls for blacklisting contractor
Acting speaker slams firm for squandering last opportunity to clarify its position
PHOTO: MUDASSAR RAJA/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
After a senior official of a firm, contracted to build an extension to the Parliament Lodges, failed to appear before a parliamentary panel, the body called for blacklisting the firm.
The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on House and Library met at the Parliament House on Tuesday with NA Acting Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi in the chair.
The committee, which has been reviewing delays in finishing construction of an additional 104 family suites and servant quarters, had summoned the managing director of Habib Rafique — the firm contracted to build the extension.
Abbasi, while expressing his displeasure over the inordinate delay in construction of the additional suites and quarters, made clear his annoyance over the absence of the contractor.
Parliament lodge expansion: NA panel gives contractor last chance to explain delays
He recalled that the project had started in May 2011 and was supposed to have been completed by 2013. However, the construction firm had failed to complete the project even five years after its original deadline passed.
He added that the committee had extended its support to the firm for early completion of the project, including six extensions in the deadline. Moreover, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had been directed to resolve any hurdles, if any, in the completion of the project.
The contractor, the acting speaker said, had been provided sufficient opportunities for a personal hearing to clear the position on the project and to provide the actual reason for delays. However, Abbasi noted, they have only been provided with lame excuses which misled the committee.
Moreover, the contractor failed to fulfil multiple commitments made before the committee for completing the project on time.
Even though the committee had cooperated with the firm, it had failed to complete the project.
When the NA panel unanimously recommended that the firm should be blacklisted, it had approached the court and secured a stay order against the committee’s decision.
NA panel recommends removal of FIA staff
“The firm has been using delaying tactics for the past four years. Whenever any action was taken against it, it tried to hide behind stay orders from the court,” he lamented.
And now, Abbasi noted, a final opportunity provided to the firm to clear its position had been squandered by its officials who did not bother to appear before the committee or to present any plausible reason to justify the delays.
The committee concluded that the contractor had no interest in completing the project and was employing delaying tactics to buy time.
The panel also expressed its dissatisfaction over the reply submitted by a representative of Rafique Habib who appeared before the committee.
The acting speaker declared that the firm had failed to provide any solid reason for the inordinate delays. The objections it had raised, Abbasi noted, were of very petty nature.
He directed the NA Secretariat and the CDA to actively pursue the case and to blacklist the firm from executing any project of the parliament in future and submit a record of committee’s meeting in this regard before the court.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Malik Abrar Ahmed, Mehboob Alam, Maulana Qamarud Din, Mian Muhammad Rasheed, Sardar Mumtaz Khan, Dr Mahreen Razaque Bhutto, CDA chairman and senior officers of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD0, and the National Assembly Secretariat.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2018.
After a senior official of a firm, contracted to build an extension to the Parliament Lodges, failed to appear before a parliamentary panel, the body called for blacklisting the firm.
The National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on House and Library met at the Parliament House on Tuesday with NA Acting Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi in the chair.
The committee, which has been reviewing delays in finishing construction of an additional 104 family suites and servant quarters, had summoned the managing director of Habib Rafique — the firm contracted to build the extension.
Abbasi, while expressing his displeasure over the inordinate delay in construction of the additional suites and quarters, made clear his annoyance over the absence of the contractor.
Parliament lodge expansion: NA panel gives contractor last chance to explain delays
He recalled that the project had started in May 2011 and was supposed to have been completed by 2013. However, the construction firm had failed to complete the project even five years after its original deadline passed.
He added that the committee had extended its support to the firm for early completion of the project, including six extensions in the deadline. Moreover, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had been directed to resolve any hurdles, if any, in the completion of the project.
The contractor, the acting speaker said, had been provided sufficient opportunities for a personal hearing to clear the position on the project and to provide the actual reason for delays. However, Abbasi noted, they have only been provided with lame excuses which misled the committee.
Moreover, the contractor failed to fulfil multiple commitments made before the committee for completing the project on time.
Even though the committee had cooperated with the firm, it had failed to complete the project.
When the NA panel unanimously recommended that the firm should be blacklisted, it had approached the court and secured a stay order against the committee’s decision.
NA panel recommends removal of FIA staff
“The firm has been using delaying tactics for the past four years. Whenever any action was taken against it, it tried to hide behind stay orders from the court,” he lamented.
And now, Abbasi noted, a final opportunity provided to the firm to clear its position had been squandered by its officials who did not bother to appear before the committee or to present any plausible reason to justify the delays.
The committee concluded that the contractor had no interest in completing the project and was employing delaying tactics to buy time.
The panel also expressed its dissatisfaction over the reply submitted by a representative of Rafique Habib who appeared before the committee.
The acting speaker declared that the firm had failed to provide any solid reason for the inordinate delays. The objections it had raised, Abbasi noted, were of very petty nature.
He directed the NA Secretariat and the CDA to actively pursue the case and to blacklist the firm from executing any project of the parliament in future and submit a record of committee’s meeting in this regard before the court.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Malik Abrar Ahmed, Mehboob Alam, Maulana Qamarud Din, Mian Muhammad Rasheed, Sardar Mumtaz Khan, Dr Mahreen Razaque Bhutto, CDA chairman and senior officers of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD0, and the National Assembly Secretariat.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2018.