Water project components' contract cancelled
The Punjab government's project steering committee has cancelled a contract worth Rs20.4 billion awarded to a foreign firm for Lots 2 and 3 of the Chahan Dam Water Supply project and has ordered a fresh tendering process following a fact-finding investigation by the Chief Minister's Inspection Team (CMIT).
The Asian Development Bank-funded project had originally been awarded to a Turkish firm, Five-H Insaat, despite the successful joint venture bid having also included a Pakistani company, Qasim & Co. The steering committee questioned how the contract was awarded solely to the foreign firm when the bid was won as a joint venture.
CMIT's intervention, prompted by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, is being credited for preventing a potential financial scandal.
A high-level meeting chaired by Punjab Planning and Development Board Chairman Barrister Nabeel Awan, and attended by all relevant secretaries, their representatives, and Hamza Salik, Project Director of the "Dream Project," reviewed CMIT's findings before deciding to cancel the contract.
The committee also decided that necessary action against the officials responsible for the contract award would be taken by the chief secretary.
Additionally, in line with the Chief Minister's directive, all future foreign-funded projects will be reviewed by the steering committee every three months to ensure transparency.
The contract in question had sparked legal action from Qasim & Co., who challenged the exclusion in court.
After the matter was brought to the chief minister's notice, she instructed CMIT to conduct a fact-finding inquiry and submit a report within seven days.
The CMIT investigation, led by Chairman Salman Ejaz along with members Ahsan Waheed, Ghulam Abbas Warraich, and an engineering specialist, found significant flaws in the procurement process, including the absence of regular quarterly reviews despite the project being foreign-funded.
Now, under the guidance of the Chairman of the Planning and Development Wing Punjab, the Steering Committee of Dream Project-1 will decide within three weeks whether to reinstate or fully terminate the contract. If cancelled, the contract will be retendered. For context, Lot 1 of the Dream Project-1bringing 12 million gallons of water daily from Chahan Damhad previously been awarded for Rs6.36 billion to a joint venture between China Construction Third Engineering and a Pakistani partner.
Meanwhile, Lot 4, worth Rs7.19 billion, was awarded to a joint venture of MS Mirakhan KBDL and Five-H Insaat.
Lot 4 covers the upgrade of filtration plants, pumping stations, and old pipelines at Rawal and Khanpur dams to ensure 24/7 water supply to the Khayaban-e-Sir Syed area.