Bidding war: SHC restrains KWSB from giving contract to private firm

The company did not qualify to establish a new station at Dhabeji, alleges petitioner.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) restrained the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) on Friday from awarding the contract for establishing a new station with the capacity to pump 100 million gallons of water per day at Dhabeji.

Justice Nadeem Akhtar, while heading the bench, also issued notice to the respondents — the Advocate General, local government department’s secretary, KWSB’s chief and private contractor firms — to file their comments by December 18.



A private contractor had challenged the process adopted by the KWSB authorities to award the contract for the establishment of the pump. Lawyer Bilal A Khawaja said that his client, the private contractor, had participated in the bidding for the construction of the “New 100 MGD” pumping house at Dhabeji. Apart from the petitioner, two other companies, including the M/s Pak Oasis Pvt Ltd, had also participated.

The lawyer said that the bid made by M/s Pak Oasis was not supported by all requisite documents required to qualify for the process. Thus, it was liable to be rejected. “Despite a major deficiency in the bid, the KWSB is preparing to award the contract to the respondent firm.”

Khawaja argued that the bidding process was a violation of the Sindh Public Procurement Rules (SPRA) 2010. He asked the court to declare the so-called evaluation of the technical bids as a violation of the SPPRA 2010.

The court was also requested to grant a stay order, restraining the KWSB from awarding the contract till the final disposal of the case.

KESC-KWSB row

The same bench issued an  intimation notice to the deputy attorney general, advocate general, KWSB and the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) for hearing of the appeal over the payment of the electricity bills allegedly not paid by the water board.

The court will hold daily hearings on the KESC’s appeal seeking recovery of the huge amount of money from the water board. Recently, the water board obtained a stay against the suspension of power supply to its pumping stations in the city after the KESC started load-shedding due to delay in payment of the dues.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2013.