Unwarranted delays: Contractors boycott bidding for 24 schemes

Say kickbacks too heavy to attempt work on schemes.

WAZIRABAD: Tenders for 24 development projects in Wazirabad have been postponed as none of the 35 qualified contractors registered with the administration has submitted a bid.

The last date for submission of bids was March 13. The contractors say around 43 per cent of the estimated cost is expected to be paid in taxes and kickbacks to various TMA departments. This, they say, does not leave them with enough to make the projects attractive. They say they will offer a bid if the kickback rates are slashed.

Babar Bashir, a former union council nazim, says all of the registered contractors in the tehsil have decided to boycott the tenders until the TMA redresses their complaint about exorbitant bribes, besides income tax deduction and security. “I can understand the expectation for some gratification to approve the bids but it totally unreasonable to ask for around 27 per cent of the estimated cost in bribes,” he said.

Of the 43.5 per cent of the estimated cost that the contractors have to bear, Bashir said, 16 per cent was for income tax (six per cent) and security (10 per cent) payments. The rest, he alleges, includes 10 per cent payment to members of National and Provincial Assemblies, 7.5 per cent to the TMA accounts department, three per cent each to the offices of the assistant commissioner and sub engineer and two per cent to the tehsil municipal officer.

TMO Sameer Intisar Cheema dismissed the allegation that his office recieved any kickbacks from the contractors as baseless. He said the latter would have filed a written complaint against him if there were any substance to their claims.

The TMO said the tenders had been delayed after complaints were received from MNA Justice (retd) Iftikhar and MPA Shaukat Manzoor that projects identified by them were not included in the list.

Tehsil Officer (Revenue) Muhammad Waqar Ahmed, who is in charge of the Accounts Department, said some TMA officials may have been taking bribes but added that the fraction the contractors were quoting appeared too high to be realistic. He denied his involvement in the matter.

Assistant Commissioner Abdul Sattar Isani also rejected the allegation against him. He said the award of contracts for development schemes was dealt by the accounts department. He said his job was to review and approve the contract after all paperwork had been completed by the accounts department.

MNA Justice Iftikhar and MPA Shaukat Manzoor rejected the allegations against them. The former accused TMA officials of taking bribes for development projects and said that none of the uplift schemes he had initiated in his constituency, NA 101, were concerned with the TMA. He said most of the projects he had undertaken involved schools and colleges.

MPA Manzoor said only two of the projects he had sent to the TMA were included in the list advertised in newspapers for bids. He said the provincial government had written a letter to the Gujranwala commissioner and the district coordination officer on his complaint about the TMA’s failure to entertain his requests.

A TMA sub engineer The Tribune contacted declined comment in the matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2012.