Senate panel calls for monitoring of all foreign-aid projects

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Division on Monday called for the appointment of a representative to oversee all foreign-funded projects, saying different government institutions change tender and financial requirements after bids are issued.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Saifullah Abro and reviewed the Chakdara-Chitral Road (N-45) project. During the briefing, National Highway Authority (NHA) officials told the committee that a $93 million loan was being arranged from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the 48-kilometre Kalakot-Chitral section.

Senator Abro asked who had been hired as consultant for the project. NHA officials informed the committee that the consultant consisted of a Korean company and Babar Khan. When the chairman asked where the consultant was, officials replied that the consultant had been called to GHQ. Abro said such names were deliberately mentioned to mislead the committee.

The committee again stressed that a representative from the Economic Affairs Division should be assigned to monitor all foreign-funded schemes, maintaining that several public institutions revise financial conditions after tenders have already been floated.

Questions over power sector entities

During the meeting, the committee chairman also sought information about the chief executive officer of GENCO Holding Company. In response, the additional secretary of the Power Division said the government was in the process of winding up the company and that the CEO of Jamshoro Power Company was present at the meeting. Abro said only GENCO Holding Company could answer the questions being raised.

He also criticised the privatisation of state-owned companies, saying they could have been restored without being sold off. Referring to First Women Bank, Abro said it had been sold for Rs4 billion, while he had offered Rs12 billion.

He further told the committee that the Lakhra coal power plant and its mine were also being put up for auction.

Jamshoro and Guddu projects discussed

Speaking about the Guddu Thermal Power Plant, Abro said the GT-14 unit had been damaged even though $50 million was being paid annually to GE for maintenance. He said that after the damage, the government did not recover $32 million from GE. He added that despite an inquiry report, the Power Division neither proceeded against the officers concerned nor attempted recovery, and instead those officers were promoted.

Power Division officials told the committee that the Jamshoro Power Plant has a generation capacity of 660MW and is capable of using local coal. They said the ADB had provided a loan of $635 million for the project, although it had originally been expected to receive $1.2 billion.

Abro alleged that pressure had been applied to limit the project to 660MW. He said that if it had been executed at its full planned capacity of 1,320MW, corruption in private-sector projects would have come to light.

He also said all LNG-based power plants had been set up in Punjab and that instead of converting older plants to LNG, new plants were installed. He added that although old power plants had been auctioned, the payments were still outstanding.