PHOTO: FILE
The director general audited the expenditure of the project for 2016-2017 and during the audit, special matters including land acquisition, financial management and procedures, contract management and works and tools collection for the project were scrutinised.
The highest amount embezzled was Rs42.38 billion of which no official records were available. However, the Punjab Communication and Works Department has obtained a special audit report of the overall irregularities worth Rs59.39 billion.
The financial irregularities of over Rs15.51 billion have been detected in land purchase alone while the financial misappropriation of over Rs4.36 billion has been found in an overvaluation of land.
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Contractors were given around Rs337 million without keeping a record of the patches of work done. Besides, the payment for the alteration in the design of the Southern Loop of Ring Road was paid in the amount of Rs656 million and Rs84 million were paid to produce a design change report without any valid justification. Whereas over Rs445 million were paid under the head of compound interest. The report also revealed that payments of Rs42.3 billion were made which have neither any documented evidence nor any ledger.
Following the directives of Auditor General of Pakistan, the Communications and Works Department has prepared a special audit report of the cost incurred on the construction of the Ring Road from 2006 to 2016 and the audit report has been submitted to the Public Accounts Committee. A briefing will also be given in the next meeting.
The auditor general has directed the finance ministry to fix the responsibility to ensure the recovery of the embezzled amount in the Ring Road project. Moreover, the auditor general stressed on the transfer of state land to the government and make the internal control functional, identifying the supervisory procedure.
On December 20, Punjab Law Minister Basharat Raja presented a special audit report of Lahore Ring Road Authority for the fiscal year 2016-17 which was referred to the public accounts committee with the direction of submitting a report within one month. He said for construction of 18.3 kilometres six-lane highway from Kala Shah Kaku to Lahore Ring Road including over Ravi River (Lahore Eastern Bypass) a total of Rs1090.589 have been earmarked which have already issues.
In 1991, the Japan International Cooperation Agency proposed a road-loop in the city and the World Bank prepared a feasibility report on a 60-kilometre ring road. In 1995, the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) presented its ring road scheme. At that time, Daewoo and other foreign companies had signed a memorandum of understanding with the authority.
In 2003, former president Pervez Musharraf directed the Punjab government to implement the project when he inspected the FC College and The Mall underpasses in 2003. The Lahore Ring Road project was launched on December 22, 2004, at a ground-breaking ceremony that Musharraf attended.
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In 2005, the Constriction and Works (C&W) Department awarded the task to NESPAK for alignment study with objectives to alleviate congestion on radial arteries, improve the operation of critical intersection in the provincial capital and reduce overall travel time along with city network.
Later, following completion of the northern loop of the Lahore Ring Road, the C&W Department awarded the project of Southern Loop Feasibility Study and Selection of Route to the NESPAK in December 2007. However, the project could not be initiated due to financial constraints until 2015. Subsequently, this was approved once again in 2016 and the construction of the southern loop began August 2016.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2019.
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