While submitting its enquiry report before the Supreme Court on a contract awarded by Pakistan Railways (PR) for the purchase of spare parts, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) revealed that the Executive Committee of the Railways’ Board had illegally approved the deal with M/S Dalian for the maintenance of Chinese locomotives.
According to the NAB report available with Pakistan Today, the deal was unnecessary because the spare parts purchased were not required, and were still lying in PR warehouses.
The report said that from 2003 to 2007, the Railways procured a fleet of 69 locomotives manufactured by M/S Dalian Locomotives Works in China. The report added the manufacturer had provided spare parts for up to three years. However, by early 2009, most of these locomotives developed major faults, and inflicted huge losses on the department.
The report stated that the PR board executive committee considered the maintenance contract for the purchase of spare parts on August 17, 2009. The report pointed out that out of 586 items on average the prices of 276 items were five times higher, while 340 items were almost twice the accepted PR rates.
“Subsequently, under the maintenance contract, almost 80 percent of PR maintenance budget was released to M/S Dalian, leaving no money for the purchase of spare parts, repair and maintenance of other PR locomotives.
The report said that due to this contract, the whole fleet of PR locomotives went out of order, as there was no budget left for purchasing spare parts, and repairing the Chinese-made and other locomotives of the Railways.
The report added that the former PR general manager (Operations) had admitted that the maintenance contract of $15.2 millions had failed to produce any results. The report added that the enquiry into the matter was continuing and would be completed soon.