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The Senate Committee on Communication met on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Senator Prince Ahmed Omer Ahmedzai here at the Parliament House to discuss the irregularities in the award of contracts under Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement by NHA in construction of Hyderabad –Sukkur Motorway (M-6) and Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway Project and contracts of toll tax stations under NHA. The NHA officials gave brief on the Hyderabad –Sukkur Motorway (M-6) financial bid comparison between the ZKB and techno –CMR-ACC. Earlier the bid proposal of M/s TECHNO-CMC-ACC Consortium was declared ineligible on account of the eligibility factors provided in the RFP: Registration of Bidder with Tax Authorities Specific Construction consequently, technical evaluation of only eligible bidder, i.e. M/s Zahir Khan & Brothers was processed, on which the  committee had reached unanimous decision that TECHNO-CMC-ACC Consortium he provided necessary documentation based on which they fulfill Technical Eligible Criteria per bid data sheet of the Project, therefore, their technical bid disqualification was incorrect. It was evident by the financial bid proposal that M/s Techno-CMC –ACC is very lucrative for government point of view as there is least financial burden on the government. The matter was disposed of while clearing the project which involve significant private investment least burden on government exchequer whereas the matter of construction of Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project was deferred because of non-provision of relevant documents. The ministry was directed to provide the details of the companies participated, bidding documents and the comparison between their experiences. On the matter of contracts of toll tax stations under NHA it was observed that in the province of Balochistan 4 toll plazas are identified out of which 2 have been on the NHA record tabled in the meeting on the road wise toll plazas details on national Highways while the other 2 are not mentioned. The committee directed the NHA to ensure that all the toll plazas are registered and also provide the details of toll plazas on motorways.

The Committee further observed that the hike in toll tax on the motorway from Islamabad to Lahore  increased by 60 Rs in 2014 to 1000 rs in 2022 through 10pc annual increase, the committee advised that the toll tax collected from the public should be used for public benefit not the contractors.

The briefing on the funds allocated and released (Project-wise) and payments made for the last quarter at FY-2021-22 and first quarter of FY -2022-23, liabilities of NHA firms and reason for release of very small amount against NHA projects involving huge costs was also deferred. The committee unanimously pointed out that briefing and working papers submitted by the ministry were misleading creating confusion to evaluate the facts of the projects with mala fide intentions to delay the projects. The ministry agreed to the recommendations of the committee and assured to provide all the required details in the next meeting.

The meeting was adjourned for further deliberation.

The meeting was attended by Senators Shammim Afridi, Muhammad Akram, Hafiz Abdul Karim, Molana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri and Senator Saifuallah Abro. Senior officials of the ministry and other attached department were also in attendance.