*ISLAMABAD: *The National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman has admitted theirregularities in award of the multi billion CPEC project to the ChineseCompany.
He admitted that there were irregularities in the award of a $2.9-billioncontract to a Chinese firm for construction of a motorway under theChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The admission raises transparency concerns in the multi-billion dollardeals.
NHA Chairman Jawwad Rafique Malik admitted that concessions worth roughly$200 million given to the China State Construction Engineering Company(CSCEC) were not part of the original bidding documents Pakistan hadfloated for the construction of the 392-kilometre long Multan-Sukkursection, Tribune has reported.
The chairman also confessed that the Rs294.4-billion or $2.9-billioncontract had been awarded to the Chinese company on an “alternate bid”,which the company had submitted after quoting its original bid.
The chairman made these admissions before the Senate Standing Committee onFinance and Revenue that met on Tuesday under the chairmanship of PPPSenator Saleem Mandviwalla. These admissions carry huge implications forthe multi-billion dollar CPEC projects and may land the government introuble.
These confessions also revealed that controlled competition among threeChinese companies was not at all fair play, as the NHA engaged with theso-called lowest bidder in violation of the Public Procurement RegulatoryAuthority Rules of 2004.
Several senators have moved a calling-attention notice in the Senate,asking for rationale behind the huge tax exemptions. The Senate standingcommittee would give a report to the upper house of parliament on itsfindings.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) hadapproved the Multan-Sukkur project at a cost of Rs259 billion but thelowest bid CSCEC gave amounted to Rs406 billion, said Malik. He furthertold the committee that CSCEC also submitted an “alternate bid” valued atRs339 billion.
Upon this, Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak of the PTI questioned whether thePPRA Rules of 2004 allowed submission of alternate bids.
The chairman claimed that the rules allowed it but he could not cite therelevant PPRA Rule in his defence.
The NHA chairman further said that after negotiations the bidder agreed tolower the alternate bid price to Rs294 billion after the government assuredthat it would not charge taxes to the tune of Rs19.1 billion or roughly$200 million.