PAC meeting: Illegal award of motorway contract referred to NAB

The decision was taken while scrutinising the accounts of NHA pertaining to Musharraf’s tenure.

ISLAMABAD:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has in principle decided to refer a dozen cases of illegal award of road construction contracts and excess payments worth billions of rupees to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). 

An independent inquiry into the cases by NAB may tighten the noose around the necks of former president, General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and the chairman of the National Highway Authority (NHA) during Musharraf’s era who made the decisions of making the payments and illegally awarding the contracts.

The decision to refer the matter to the top anti-corruption body was taken on Tuesday by PAC while scrutinising the accounts of NHA pertaining to Musharraf’s tenure. Despite numerous meetings and a lapse of over six years, the auditor general of Pakistan and the Departmental Accounts Committee have been unable to resolve the issues, as most of the people involved are either top officials in the NHA or well-connected private contractors.

Even though PAC members knew that the NHA would not be able to amicably settle the issues, the committee gave a final 15-day deadline to the Secretary Ministry of Communication, Anwar Ahmad Khan, to resolve the matter.

If Khan could not do so, the highlighted audit objections would be automatically referred to NAB for formal proceedings against the accused, ordered Chairman PAC Nadeem Afzal Chan.

Out of a dozen cases, the biggest is the illegal awarding of the contract for the construction of M-3 Motorway (between Pindi Bhatia and Faisalabad) by the highway authority to M/s Pakistan Motorways International Consortium (PAMIC). The glaring irregularity was pointed out by an inquiry panel constituted by the Departmental Accounts Committee. According to the inquiry findings, “M/s PAMIC did not submit its bid for the M-3, but the firm was awarded the contract in contravention of all laid down rules and procedures.”

Former premier Aziz had approved to hand over a contract for the construction of the road to PAMIC. But two other contracts for provincial roads, the Faisalabad-Sheikhupura-Lahore and Faisalabad-Jaranwala-Lahore roads were added in the Concession Agreement without the consent of the then Punjab government and the approval of the premier. Both the roads are in a dilapidated condition.

Similarly, PAMIC did not pay the Rs542.5 million rent for using the machinery and did not deposit Rs187 million of its share in the escrow account (money put into the custody of a third party for delivery to a grantee only after the fulfillment of the conditions specified), according to the official findings.

The M-3 Motorway was completed in 2003 at a cost of Rs5.3 billion. The issue of substandard work on M-3 was also brought up in the 46th session of the National Assembly. Minister for Communication, Arbab Alamgir Khan apprised the NA that the government had deducted Rs66.8 million from the contractor’s bill on account of substandard work.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2013.