Consultants for auction: PTA denies spending Rs700 million

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has denied hiring advisers for Rs700 million for the 3G auction. A statement issued by the authority says: “It is clarified that three advisers have been hired on a monthly remuneration of $181,667 for three months, aggregating to $545,000 (Rs53.05 million). Hence the allegation of hiring on total remuneration of Rs700 Million is totally baseless and an effort to halt the 3G auction. The auction process has been blocked twice at the initial stage at the hiring of the consultant. Now the consultants have been engaged through an open and transparent way. It is pointed out that the delay in 3G auction is already causing millions of dollars in losses to the exchequer per day. The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules are not applicable to human resource hirings.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.