Show-cause notice: Water commission puts PHED official on notice

Executive engineer asked to explain reason for awarding contract of one project to nine companies

HYDERABAD: In a development scheme worth Rs339 million for construction of drainage network in Mehar taluka of Dadu district, Supreme Court-mandated water commission put an official of Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) on notice for awarding contracts to nine separate contractors for the project. "It appears that the XEN [executive engineer] on account of extraneous reasons has awarded the contract to nine contractors, which by itself is grounds to halt the progress of the scheme," Justice (retd) Amir Hani Muslim, the commission's head who conducted the hearing in Karachi on Tuesday, observed.

During the commission's recent visit to Dadu district, a local councillor, Abdul Sattar, had complained about substandard quality of work on the scheme. The commission issued show cause notice to XEN Mehar Das to explain the reason for awarding the work to nine contractors.

The commission also warned the nine contractors that substandard work would lead to cancellation of their contracts. The scheme is scheduled to be completed in three years. Over a year has passed and a sum of Rs47.75 million has been released. The commission asked the Sindh Planning and Development Department to address the matter of deficiency in allocation of funds for the scheme.

The superintending engineer of PHED, Shamsuddin Shaikh, has been directed to submit a plan for completion of the scheme within two weeks. PHED Secretary Jamal Mustafa Syed has been directed to personally monitor the scheme while expediting the pace of work. "The oxidation ponds shall be given priority."

WASA

The Commission ordered Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), a subsidiary of Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA), to submit details of recovery of the utility bills made during the last three years. The report will shed light on the performance of former finance director Syed Mohsin Azhar Jaffry, who oversaw the recoveries during the period in question.

During the hearing, HDA director general informed the commission that he recently replaced Jaffary with Rehmatullah Jamali as finance and commercial tax director on account of complaints against Jaffry. But he claimed that Jaffry had managed to secure the post of director again through the Sindh local government secretary.

The commission directed the provincial secretary and managing director of WASA, Agha Abdul Raheem, to submit comments with regard to Jaffry's performance.

During the hearing, Pak Oasis company assured the commission that a container-based reverse osmosis plant would be installed at a village with around 5,000 population, near Bolhari rural town in Jamshoro district by November 25.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2018.