LAHORE – The cash-stripped Punjab government, already facing an overdraft of more than Rs 22 billion, is passing on its financial brunt to contractors, even the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), engaged in the Lahore Road Rehabilitation Programme (LRRP) Phase II since 2008, Pakistan Today has learnt. CM’s Secretariat sources told Pakistan Today that with advent of 2011, the Punjab government assured all contractors including the FWO to improve their payments system for development works. But the situation could not be improved as the Punjab government continues to face massive financial problems.
FWO, the engineering wing of the armed forces, was amongst the contractors whose services were personally sought by Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif due to its qualitative work and its capacity to complete mega development projects in time and with perfection. Recently, the FWO was engaged in construction of the Bhogiwal Road costing around Rs 450 million. According to sources, Rs 280 million out of the total amount had to be paid to the FWO and the remaining amount to other departments. An official of the LDA Engineering Wing said that the FWO was mobilised on the Bhogiwal Road on October 21, 2010 and after a lot of requests, it was issued a mobilisation advance of Rs 37 million by LDA vide cheque number 037688 on November 4, 2010 but the cheque could not be cleared by the Punjab finance secretary. FWO sources said that the finance secretary was also requested to ease the cash flow, as in absence of a requisite cash flow, the FWO could not complete the Bhogiwal Road Project in time. “FWO has already spent around Rs 754 million from its own resources for execution of the LRRP-II projects, which are required to be paid to the FWO by various client departments,” sources said. Another FWO official said that the cheque, which remained pending for two months, was cashed last week. He said that a delay in paying money to the organisation had put a big question mark on the Punjab government’s reputation.
According to vide clause 7 of the MoU signed between the LDA and FWO on the Bhogiwal Road Project, compensation of 0.1 percent of the total cost of the project per day had to be paid to the FWO by LDA for any delayed payments. “What can one say that whether the FWO receives compensation for late payments? We are not sure what will be the future of further payments,” the official added.
The FWO official said design of Section-III from Chota Ravi to the Bund Road, a part of the Bhogiwal Road was still awaited despite the fact that the FWO had intimated the matter vide letter number 607 on December 1, 2010. Talking about other problems due to various changes incorporated in the design, he said that the formal contract agreement between the LDA and FWO was also held-up. Changes were incorporated due to existing services such as electricity poles and old sewerage lines etc, he added.
The Bhogiwal Road is located in NA-123, considered to be a stronghold of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The FWO has already initiated the construction work on the project. The 3.4 kilometre-long Bhogiwal Road is a main approaching road linking the GT Road to the Bund Road and Ring Road. The road is part of the LRRP Part II and the Punjab CM had laid its foundation stone on September 9, 2008.
