Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Nadeem Afzal Chan has expressed reservations over the awarding of Mohmand Dam contract to Descon – an engineering firm owned by PM’s Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood.
Talking on a political talk show, the seasoned politician said that “even if the process was transparent, Dawood should issue a clarification”.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mian Javed Latif, who was also in attendance, was also sceptical with regard to the transparency of the process and said that “is it not corruption [to award a contract to your aide]”?
Earlier, on Tuesday, a joint venture of Descon and a Chinese firm, China Gezhouba, won the bid for construction of the Rs309 billion Mohmand Dam, having a capacity to generate 800MW of electricity.
WAPDA Chairman Gen (Retd.) Mozammil Hussain confirmed that Descon and China Gezhouba have won the bid and to this effect, the contractor will mobilize the site of the project within 10 weeks.
“The international competitive bidding was held in a single bid mode and the joint venture of Descon and China Gezhouba has qualified for the project. Other joint venture of Frontier Works Organizations (FWO) with power China also participated in the bid but could not win the project,” the chairman said.
However, reports have emerged that the project is expedited. The land is yet to be acquired and a consultancy firm has not been finalised yet.
