PM’s Adviser on Commerce, Textile, Industry and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood has said that the awarding of Mohmand Dam contract to Descon is not a “conflict of interest”.
The bid for the construction of the Rs309 billion dam was awarded to a joint venture between China’s Gezhouba and Descon Engineering that is reportedly owned by Dawood.
Mohmand Dam is basically a flood control dam proposed to store 300,000 cusecs of water. The cost of the project in 2003 stood at $1 billion which has now swelled to $3 billion due to the inordinate delay in Musharraf’s regime.
However, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had demanded that a parliamentary committee be formed to investigate the contract awarded for the construction of Mohmand Dam.
Responding to the controversy, Dawood said that he has no vested interests in the contract as he is not the chairman neither a director of the company. He revealed that he has left the company and is now only a shareholder.
“It is possible that I may incur losses or make a profit in this project in my capacity as a shareholder,” he said.#
Further, he told that the bidding process for awarding the contract had started before he had even become an adviser and had told Prime Minister Imran Khan that it might pose problems. But in my opinion, there is no conflict of interest here, he said.
He also justified that his company has just emerged as a winner in the bid, and not been given the contract yet.
Speaking of the current economic situation, Dawood said, “Last year, the trade deficit was $37 billion. This year exports will be higher than before and we will try our best to take exports up to $27 billion.”
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