18 hours ago
Chahan Dam contracts' issue remains unresolved
The controversy over awarding Lot Two and Lot Three contracts from Chahan Dam to Rawalpindi under the Dream Project could not be resolved.
Project Director Hamza Salik was removed from his post and additional Secretary Finance Omar Javed was appointed as the new Project Director. The cancellation of the contract for the supply of 12 million gallons of additional water per day upon completion of the Lot Two and Lot Three contract at a cost of Rs20.4 billion funded by the Asian Development Bank was suspended by the High Court.
The court also issued instructions to resolve the matter within two weeks. Rawalpindi will be able to get 17 million gallons of additional water per day upon completion of the project from Lot One to Lot Four.
The contract for Lot One of the projects was awarded to China Construction Third Engineering at a cost of Rs6.36 billion, while the contract for Lot Four was awarded to MS Metracon BDL and Turkish company Five H Insat at a cost of Rs7.19 billion. Work on both contracts is ongoing. With the completion of these projects, Rawalpindi will get 5 million gallons of additional water per day from Khanpur Dam and Rawal Dam.
In addition, the joint venture company of the project had objected to the award of the contract for Lot Two and Lot Three to Turkish company Five H Insat at a cost of Rs20.40 billion. The project director had cancelled the contract on the recommendation of the Steering Committee for Dream Project after the fact-finding of the Chief Minister Inspection Team on the objection of the joint venture company of the project.
When the company challenged the decision in the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court, Justice Jawad Hassan suspended the decision of the project director and WASA MD and directed them to resolve the matter by mutual agreement with the Turkish company within two weeks.
However, after the meeting of the steering committee of the Dream Project, the project director of the Dream Project, Hamza Salik, was removed from his post and Additional Secretary Finance Omar Javed has been appointed as the new project director of the Dream Project.
Now, in the light of the court's decision, the steering committee of the Dream Project will decide to award the contracts of Lot two and Lot three. If the matter of awarding the contracts of Lot two and Lot three drags on, the completion of the loan-funded project of the Asian Development Bank may be delayed.
