No loophole in Park Enclave: CDA

The letter sent by the Transparency International (TI) to the Capital Development Authority (CDA), raising objections on the pre-qualification criteria set for awarding the Park Enclave project, may go unheeded, as the civic body has rejected the proposal of forming any committee to look into the objections raised by three contractors, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Sources in the CDA, requesting anonymity, told Pakistan Today that the issue was placed before the Member Planning and informed about the proposal made in the TI letter to form a committee comprising of the authorised persons to address the complaints of bidders, according to the requirement of Rule-48 of Pakistan Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA). But he rejected the proposal after coming to know that no violation of rules was committed in the process. He said the demand made by the Ghulam Rasool and Company, Mohammad Ayub Brothers and Matracon was not according to the PPRA rules, which resulted in the rejection by the Member Planning.
Around week ago, the Transparency International has sent a letter to the CDA and informed the high-ups about the serious objections raised by the contractors regarding the pre-qualification criteria set for awarding the Rs 3 billion contract of infrastructure works at the Park Enclave, a housing scheme launched in Zone-IV five months back.
The letter also asked the CDA chief to ensure that its officers did not violate the PPRA rules and re-advertised the tender to avoid charges of unlawful procurement, if the complaint was found to be correct. About 15 construction firms had applied for pre-qualification, of which the authority short-listed four of them.
However, the official said according to the PPRA rules, any bidder could raise objections after completion of bidding process, if required, but the authority had only pre-qualified four contractors in the said case –Maaksons, Habib Rafique, Echowest and SKB – and received their technical and financial bids.
“The technical bids have been opened while the financial bids are yet to be made public,” he added. The source said the Park Enclave project was the only mega project of the cash-strapped CDA and some forces wanted to damage the authority’s credibility by adopting different tactics.
He further alleged that some contractors, who applied for the Park Enclave, were carrying out some other mega projects of the city and they also wanted to get contract of said housing scheme but failed to do so.
He was of the view that although, the CDA was going through severe financial crunch, but determined to complete Park Enclave, which was considered as a jewel of Islamabad. “The contractors have feared that authority can stop funds for their uplift projects for the sake of Park Enclave,” he said.
It is pertinent to mention that at the time of launching of Park Enclave, the CDA claimed to complete in a short period of time. The said project would involve the construction of 700 houses in Phase-I and another 600 in Phase–II. It is the only sector which the CDA has launched for private citizens after decades.