Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has requested the Secretary Ministry of Communications to order the National Highway Authority (NHA) for immediate posting of details of the contracts awarded from 2013 to 2021 on the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PRRA) website.
The request, made by Transparency International through a letter to the Secretary, has surfaced following a complaint about allegations of corruption of over Rs. 1,000 billion as claimed by Minister of Communications, Murad Saeed, in the motorway contracts awarded by NHA between 2013-2021.
The Minister of Communications had claimed that the motorway contracts awarded between 2013-2018 were at three times higher costs than the costs of motorway contracts being awarded in 2020/21 under his ministership, causing a loss of over Rs. 1,000 billion to the national exchequer.
According to the letter, Transparency International checked the PPRA website to verify the claims of the Minister of Communications and other high ups of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government and found that the NHA did not post the details of awarded contracts on the PPRA website.
It is worth mentioning here that according to PPRA Rules 2004, Rule No. 47, it is mandatory for NHA to follow the legal requirements of posting all contracts, including the motorway project and others, with Bills of Quantity (BOQs) on the PPRA website.
Interestingly, the present Minister of Communications also committed the same violation of Rule No. 47 with regard to NHA and all other departments falling under the purview of the ministry.
The letter revealed that NHA violated PPRA Rules 2004, Rule No. 47, as it did not upload the awarded documents of all the contracts, viz. BOQ, Contract Agreements, Conditions of Contracts, and Specifications, on the PPRA website from 2013 to 2021.
It is to be noted that the cost of construction for roads depends on various factors, such as design parameters, specifications, terrain/filling/cutting/designed load/embankment protection/sizes of the lane, depth of base, and sub-base, carpeting thickness, culverts, and bridges.
The price escalation and rupee depreciation during the last nine years are also very high, as the price of Mild Steel Bars in 2013 was Rs. 80,000/ton as compared to over Rs. 145,000/ton in 2021.
Similarly, the Pakistani Rupee rates in 2013 were Rs. 100/US dollar and in 2021, the US dollar is at Rs. 165, which has to be checked/verified from the 2013 contracts of NHA.
In compliance with Rule No. 47 of PPRA Rules 2004, Secretary Communications has been requested to order NHA for immediate posting of all motorway and other contracts under CPEC and non-CPEC agreements which were awarded in the last nine years, along with rates/prices quoted/BOQ, on the PPRA website, in an order that the general public, as well as the Transparency International, can examine the authenticity of the claim of the Minister of Communications by comparing the previous and present costs, read the letter.
