AWOL: Senate panel to issue show cause notice to top bureaucrat

Members agree to re-bid Neelum-Jhelum transmission line project.

ISLAMABAD:

A Senate committee on Tuesday expressed dismay over the attitude of the federal minister for water and power and his top aide in the ministry. The Standing Committee on Water and Power decided to issue a show-cause notice to the federal secretary for absenting from the committee’s meetings for the last three months.

The federal secretary did not attend meetings on several occasions despite repeated summons and requests for briefings on the Neelum-Jhelum power project’s transmission lines.



The committee has claimed the project was awarded to a non-responsive Chinese company in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s rules.  In this regard, the committee had sought an explanation from the ministry – but its notices were ignored.

The committee’s chairman, Senator Zahid Khan, said that there were objections to the violation of rules in the award.

“We will soon issue show-cause notices to the secretary and we will take action if he fails to satisfy the committee in the next meeting,” said Khan. Committee members unanimously agreed to rebid the project and award it to a successful bidder by following the PPRA rules.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2014.