Embezzlement suspicions: Over 800 projects to be physically verified

Officials claim contractors submitted forged bills inflating costs.

GILGIT:

The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government has decided to  verify over 800 projects completed in the region after the floods in 2010.

The decision was taken after reports of embezzlements and overbilling in mega projects by contractors, said an official in the G-B Chief Minister’s Inspection Commission.

“The government has constituted three teams comprising experts to verify projects completed in Astore and Hunza-Nagar districts,” said the official. He added that more teams might be formed for projects in other parts of the region.

Another official, who wished not to be named, said several contractors had submitted suspicious bills to their concerned departments, with inflated costs for the projects Some projects were not adequately designed to achieve their objectives. Residents are of the view that embankments recently built along the Gilgit River are too small to withstand floods.

The floods, which swept away as many as 14,100 houses in 350 villages, also damaged 950 kilometres of the road network and destroyed 180 bridges.  Several water channels were washed away in Gilgit disrupting power supply units and suspending electricity to Janlote Goro, Naltar and Kargah. The officials also claim power supply has not been fully restored due to shortage of funds. In addition to that, crops, livestock, thousands of orchards and hundreds of irrigation channels were also destroyed by the devastating flood. The government estimated the loss at Rs12 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2012.