ISLAMABAD: Terming the Nandipur power project a ‘mega scandal’, the opposition members in the Senate have urged the government to initiate immediate investigation by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Opposition Leader Aitzaz Ahsan said that a private audit firm cannot probe into corruption charges. He said that NAB should investigate the matter under the criminal law.
He raised the issue during a discussion sought by members of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) over non-production of even a single megawatt of electricity at the Nandipur power project despite spending billions of rupees of the national exchequer.
Attacking on the ruling family, Aitzaz said that the Sharif family had a habit of whitewashing its wrongdoings, citing the cooperative banks scandal and the Supreme Court attack.
Mohsin Aziz of the PTI said: “The Nandipur power project is a complete failure.” He said that first the plant was dual-powered (furnace and diesel), and now the government wanted to run it on gas.
PPP Senator Sassui Palijo proposed that the matter be referred to the relevant standing committee for further probe and discussion.
However, Federal Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Asif, in response, claimed that Ahsan’s wife got quota of LPG from the same source that gave quota to two former chairpersons of NAB. The minister said NAB was already probing one aspect of the matter on the recommendations of the apex court’s commission.
He admitted that the contractor had established an undersized fuel oil treatment plant, which was the major issue in the efficiency of the plant. He said the PC-I of Rs59 billion was prepared much before the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government took over, adding that the current administration carried it out without any changes because 65 per cent of the project had already been completed.
