A two-member bench of the CCP, comprising Chairman Khalid Mirza and Member (Legal) Rahat Kaunain Hassan, enforced the penalties on China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC), Dredging International (DI), Jan De Nul NV (JDN) and China International Water and Electric Corporation (CWE).
According to a press release issued by the commission, an inquiry was initiated against the companies after media reports alleged that the companies had formed a consortium to extract mutual benefit from contracts for dredging at Port Qasim.
The dredging project was started to increase the depth of a 45-kilometre-long navigational channel at the port to 14 metres.
CCP’s two-member bench concluded that the only plausible reasoning for CHEC, DI and JDN to file a joint bid appeared to be reduction in their own costs and risks rather than provision of efficient services to PQA.
The bench observed that the current proposal of Rs16.058 billion filed by the consortium was much higher than the previous proposal.
The commission has also issued a warning to Port Qasim Authority that in future consortium bidding should be scrutinised carefully and such consortiums should be asked to seek exemption from the CCP before being awarded contracts.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2010.
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