ISLAMABAD: Amid the ongoing Mohmand dam controversy over its bidding process and conflict of interest, the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) is negotiating the Rs309 billion bid offered by a consortium led by Descon Engineering, a firm founded by adviser to the prime minister on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, for a price cut.
WAPDA chairman Lt Gen ® Muzammil Hussain told the Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources on Monday that Wapda had been engaged with the consortium — comprising Descon, China Gezhouba and Voith Hydro — for the past one-and-a-half months and the contract had not been formally awarded so far.
Senator Ahmad Khan told the committee that proper negotiations between the client and the contractor could result in a 15-20pc discount because the dam construction mainly required steel, cement and earthwork. “You can bring down bid price by Rs50 billion when you go item by item,” he said. Official says contract for Mohmand dam not awarded yet; evaluation of proposals by March 7
He said there were a lot of deficiencies in the bidding mechanism of WAPDA and other public sector organisations, even though they claimed to strictly follow procurement rules in a transparent way. Giving an example, he said a contractor won the lowest bid of Rs27 billion for Naulong Dam in Balochistan that became controversial. Wapda went for a rebid and his (Senator Khan’s) company made Rs18 billion bid yet the previous successful bidder won the project again with its revised bid of Rs17 billion for exactly the same job a year later. “This is a big question mark,” he remarked.
A Wapda official attending the meeting confirmed the Naulong bidding results as reported by Senator Khan but said the final bid was perhaps Rs19bn and not Rs17 billion. The Senate committee, headed by Senator Shamim Afridi, then decided to hold a special meeting on the Naulong dam and asked Senator Khan and Wapda chairman to come up with complete record.
