The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (Carec) Tranche-III project has come under intense scrutiny in several parliamentary committees due to allegations of collusive practices, ghost tendering, and other irregularities in its awarding process.
The minutes from the latest Senate panel meeting recommended sending a letter to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the project’s donor. The letter is to inform the bank that the bids were “technically invalid and were manipulated due to the mala fide intention of the NHA officials and contractors.” The panel also directed the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) to write to the ADB within two days, highlighting not only the technical invalidity of the bids but also the firms’ non-compliance with the rules.
The committee further instructed the EAD to share the Senate panel’s findings with the inquiry committee that the prime minister had formed. Previously, the prime minister suspended eight senior officials of the National Highway Authority (NHA) in connection with this case.
Legal action was also recommended against the auditor for submitting a fake report without supporting documents, and against the arbitrator for alleged manipulation, citing his past association with the joint venture partners. The committee noted that the lead firm in the joint venture had been disqualified in the Carec-II project but was later declared eligible for Phase-III, which prompted parliamentary scrutiny. The committee also maintained that the company in question was a non-performing firm involved in litigation related to the Lodhran-Multan project.
The meeting minutes stated, “The committee declared the bids for ADB CAREC Tranche-III (Rajanpur-DG Khan – DI Khan) Project of M/s NXCC, M/s Dynamic Constructors and M/s Rustam Associates null and void due to failure to meet the mandatory average annual turnover criteria of local partners. The auditor-submitted documents were found to be unverified and potentially fraudulent, and due process was not followed and without supporting documents and refusal from the companies for the provision of documents.”
The committee also asked the EAD and NHA to submit a comprehensive report on Section I (Chakdara-Timargara) of the N-45 project in the next meeting. It also requested necessary information regarding the rehabilitation of the Chitral Approach Road and recommended that the EAD and NHA recover approximately Rs1.7 billion in tax relief from the firms that participated in the Shandur-Gilgit project.
