PHOTO: MUDASSAR RAJA/EXPRESS
“The tendering process is being conducted again for awarding the contract of installing the telemetry system to a capable company,” the Indus River System Authority chairman told the committee meeting, chaired by Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, at the Parliament House.
He said the World Bank had allocated funds for the installation of the system. But the company, which was awarded the contract had not performed well in other projects in Punjab and the World Bank was informed about it, he added.
However, he said, the World Bank officials made it clear that they want the same company to work on the project otherwise they would not provide funds for it.
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“Now, we are working on the re-tendering process,” the Irsa chairman said.
The committee chairman asked to accelerate the pace of work on the project.
“Water disputes exist among provinces due to lack of a telemetry system,” said Talpur.
During the meeting, the Ministry of Water Resources officials said that they had written a letter to the Supreme Court registrar to provide details of the amount collected in the Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand Dam Fund as well as the expenditure incurred on the advertisement campaign.
“However, two months are about to pass by but we have not received any detail,” they added.
PML-N’s Khawaja Asif, who is a member of the committee, said, “We asked for details of the dam fund. In such a long period, if someone would have gone to fetch the answer on foot, he would have come back by now.”
Pemra chairman said that the dam fund advertisement was free of cost. “It was run for 300,000 minutes,” he added.
Chairman Talpur directed the Pemra officials to write a letter to the Supreme Court in this regard.
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During the meeting, recommendations for the formation of a committee comprising neutral water experts to resolve the water theft issue between Sindh and Punjab were given.
An Irsa member recommended that the water provided to the provinces be audited by international experts. “Ninety per cent of the country's water is used for agriculture purposes by Sindh and Punjab and there are problems regarding distribution of water between them.”
Khawaja Asif said if representatives from the two provinces are involved in the audit process, the problem would not be solved.
The Irsa chairman told the committee that at present, “Pakistan has no shortage of water to meet its needs”.
A representative of the Balochistan Irrigation Department said that the province’s water was being stolen by Sindh and “we do not get water as per our requirement”.
Talpur replied after the water dispute between Sindh and Punjab is resolved, Balochistan would get its share.
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