Court halts sewerage project tender

Allegations of bias, cost escalation hinder project

JARANWALA:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has once again halted the tendering process for a Rs1.2 billion sewerage and wastewater project in Jaranwala Tehsil, pending scrutiny.

This marks the second intervention in the project's bidding process within a year, with the court ordering the municipal committee to resolve the matter within 15 days.

The project has been mired in controversy over allegations of irregularities in the tendering process.

Earlier in March 2024, the municipal committee had invited contractors to submit technical and financial bids for the project. However, when bids were opened, only one firm was deemed qualified, with the rest disqualified.

This led the disqualified parties to file petitions in both lower and higher courts and appeal to various government and regulatory bodies, including the Punjab Municipal Development Fund Company (PMDFC), the Anti-Corruption Department, the Faisalabad deputy commissioner and the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

They urged these entities to cancel the procurement and initiate a fresh tendering process.

The Deputy Commissioner of Faisalabad referred the matter to a grievances committee, and PMDFC advised the municipal committee to seek clarifications from the bidders—a recommendation that municipal officials reportedly ignored.

PPRA then intervened, citing multiple irregularities in the bidding process, including bias in evaluation, publication of flawed evaluation reports, and failure to observe grievance periods.

Consequently, PPRA ordered that the process be restarted to ensure fair competition.

Last year, following similar concerns raised by the donor agency, the Punjab Local Government Department suspended two officials, including the Chief Officer of the Jaranwala Municipal Committee.

Sources in the PMDFC said the delays have inflated the project's cost from Rs1.2 billion to Rs1.7 billion within a year due to fluctuating material prices.

As a result, over 1.5 million residents of Jaranwala Tehsil remain deprived of safe drinking water.