The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Saturday said that it has scrutinised173 projects during last six months carrying a financial impact of Rs 1475 billion and averted loss of billion of rupees to the national exchequer.
This was told during the press conference addressed by NAB Chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bukhari along with his team to give an overview of major achievements of the bureau during last six months under the Prevention and Awareness Regime.
The projects srutinised and corresponding amounts prevented from corruption were at federal level 14 projects (Rs 1426 billion), Sindh 55 projects (Rs 26.3 billion), Punjab 73 projects (Rs 11.2 billion), Balochistan 12 (Rs. 9.6 billion), KPK 14 projects (Rs 1 billion), and Rawalpindi five projects (Rs 1 billion).
It was said that the nature of NAB diligence covered pre-procurement, ongoing projects, and post-procurement misdemeanour projects.
The NAB work has been varying from corrective advice, procedural review, and annulment and preventing gross violations of PPRA rules or departmental rules and procedures.
Representative projects pertaining to WAPDA, Capital Development Authority (CDA), and Port Qasim Authority (PQA) were also highlighted during this press conference.
WAPDA incurred Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) Rules violations for awarding contract to Chinese firm regarding procurement of Thrust Boring Machines (TBMs), which cost Rs 19.5 billion. Moreover, presently, the fate of the project jeopardised due to reported absence of insurance cover to the TBMs.
Other classic example of PPRA Rules and Capital Development Authority (CDA) Rules violations was revealed in the LED Project by CDA, it was said.
Substantial corrections, revisions of draft contracts and compliance to rules have been exercised by various departments, including National Highway Authority (NHA), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Universal Service Fund Company (USFCo), Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL), and Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) and others.
