Double circuit transmission line contract: Senate body for taking action against persons involved

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Power has directed the Power Division to take action against those allegedly involved in awarding the contract of 765kV double circuit transmission line from Dasu lot-1 to the company that was not competent.

The meeting met with Senator Saifullah Abro in the chair for day-to-day meeting on the matter of the NTDC to examine the World Bank project of 765kV double circuit transmission line from Dasu Hydro Power Station to Islamabad.

The committee in continuation with the previous meeting deliberated first on the point of appointment procedure of the BoDs at the NTDC and directed the Power Division to prepare a performa in tabulated form as per the Act, on the appointment of BoDs in two weeks along with the verification certificate of the credentials of the members.

The committee directed that after evaluation if the member failed to meet the requirement should be eligible for removal from the board. The committee also decided to make appropriate amendments on the appointment of the BoDs under the new Act.

The committee after examining in detail the step-wise pre-qualification process of the projects, proved evident that the pre-qualification bid was wrongly made and said that M/s GOPA Intec as consultant was responsible for a wrong bid. It was also questioned by the Committee that on which basis M/s GOPA intec validated the bid.

The chairman committee said that as per available document and inquiry report of M/s Sinohydro Corporation could not be determined as a transmission line project as well as did not fulfil the requirement of the same. The committee observed that the NTDC continued to give inaccurate, incomplete and misleading information to the committee by holding the World Bank responsible for the procurement process.

The chairman of the committee stated the NTDC failed to provide the substantial completion certificate and the letter later provided did not meet the apt criteria of completion of 4.5 years. On a question of the completion date of the project in connection to the substantial document, the committee directed MD, NTDC to suspend Abdul Muqeet Deputy Manager, NTDC and asked him to leave the committee room immediately on account of providing wrong information, about the date of completion.

However, later the representative was called back for briefing. The committee also observed that the progress report as well as letter of acceptance, for the contract was also missing in the briefing material.

The committee stated that there is ample evidence of irregularities which are being committed by the previous BoD, NTDC, and M/s GOPA Intec as a consultant. Therefore, the committee directed the Power Division to take strict action against the alleged officials and recommended to referred the case to the FIA or the NAB and submit a report within a week. Moreover, the Standing Committee also unanimously decided and directed the Power Division to write a letter to the World Bank to apprise about irregularities committed in the award of the contract.

The meeting was attended by senators, Asad Ali Junejo, Bahramand Khan Tangi, Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Fida Muhammad, and Haji Hidayatullah Khan, and other senior officers of the Power Division and the NTDC were also in attendance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023