RAWALPINDI:
The secretary of Local Government has been appointed mediator to resolve the dispute over awarding two contracts worth Rs20.40 billion for 12 million gallons per day additional water supply from Chahan Dam, funded by the Asian Development Bank.
Hamza Salik has been removed from his post, and Umar Javed has been appointed as the new Project Director of the DREAMS project.
In a Project Coordination Unit meeting, officials expressed determination to resolve the dispute over Lot-2 and Lot-3 soon so that work could also begin on these segments.
According to sources, under the DREAMS project, Lot-1 contract worth Rs6.36 billion was awarded to China Construction Third Engineering, while Lot-4 worth Rs7.19 billion was awarded to M/s Metra Con with BDM and Turkish firm Five H Insaat. Work on both is already underway and is expected to add 5 million gallons of water supply to Rawalpindi.
However, the Lot-2 and Lot-3 contracts worth Rs20.40 billion were cancelled following disputes between two companies, after a fact-finding inquiry by the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team and recommendations of the Steering Committee.
The decision on whether to re-award these contracts or reinstate the same company now rests with the Local Government Secretary as mediator.
A meeting of the Project Coordination Unit was held on Thursday in Lahore under the chairmanship of the project director, with WASA Managing Director (MD) Muhammad Saleem Ashraf, WASA deputy MD, Deputy Project Director of the City Implementation Unit Muhammad Hasnain, and other officers.
