FWO shown the door

The Punjab government has finally parted ways with the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), engineering wing of the armed forces, after the provincial government stepped back from awarding the mega project of installation of 20 tube wells in various part of the city, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Under the project, 19 tube wells will be replaced with those found outlived and just one new tube well will be installed. The previous project included 50 tube wells but later the number was reduced to 20.

The breakaway became imminent after CM’s Secretariat officials blasted the FWO due to its working style and campaigned against it by propagating that the department had failed to live up to the expectations of the Punjab government. “Timeline has paramount importance in eyes of the government and the FWO seldom meets deadlines, which we give it to complete various projects,” a senior official at the CM’s Secretariat told Pakistan Today. “We have not awarded the FWO the project of tube wells installation and will get it completed by local contractors,” he added.
The relationship came into play during the first tenure of Shahbaz Sharif as Punjab CM in 1997 when the FWO completed the Lahore Rehabilitation Road Project Phase-I by mainly constructing Ferozepur Road and Jail Road. The Govt-FWO ties further deepened after Shahbaz became CM again in 2008 and the FWO completed mega projects of the Shalimar Interchange, LRRP (Phase II) and replaced 69 outlived tube wells.

Shahbaz always sang praises of the FWO due to its qualitative and high-standard work. He also ranked the FWO as the best in completing tough projects within deadlines. But the bond between the CM and FWO could not last longer due to civil bureaucracy’s uneasiness with FWO officials, an official at Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Headquarters said.
He said that government high-ups developed an animosity with FWO officials, as the former denied appeasing them by giving illegal commission in various development projects. “In the routine practice, government officials in the LDA, TEPA, WASA and C&W are habitual of receiving illegal gratification from contractors. As the FWO refused to grease their palms, they got infuriated and presented it under-rated before the Punjab CM,” the official added.

He alleged that the Punjab C&W secretary and PSO to the CM were behind the game. “One of the objections raised by PSO to the CM, Khawaja Imran Raza is higher rates due to which the government termed FWO ineligible for the tube well installation project,” he added. The official said that the FWO set Rs 9 million as rate for 4 cusecs tube well and Rs 7.6 million for 2 cusecs tube well in comparison to Rs 7.2 million for 4 cusecs and Rs 5.6 million for 2 cusecs in 2009 when the FWO replaced 69 tube wells. These rates were 20 percent higher than the former rates and according to the surge in inflation, he added.

Another official in the WASA Engineering Branch said that the government had set around Rs 6.8 million as the rate for installation of tube wells. “Technically, out of the total amount, the local contractor has to pay 7 percent income tax, 10 to 15 percent go to meet overhead works including labour, logistic and establishment of site office and indeed around 10 percent is wasted in serving illegal commission to government officials to maintain smooth sailing and remain in good books of Shahbaz,” he added. “The break-up showed that around 30 percent funds will be used for this purpose. Rest of the amount is approximately Rs 3.5 million. It means that work that has to be completed in Rs 3.5 million and it could only be possible by compromising on the quality of work.”

On being contacted, PSO to CM, Khawaja Imran Raza said that the FWO could not come up to the desired expectations, which was why the tube wells installation project was not awarded to it. “The basic reason to award local contractors is their affordable terms and conditions while the FWO works on 16 percent higher rates,” he added. “Around 20 tube wells will be replaced with outlived ones and only one new tube well will be installed. Out of them, the government has approved the contract of 10 tube wells to local contractors and contract of 10 tube wells are in the pipeline so far,” Raza said. WASA Managing Director (MD) Javed Iqbal said that the Punjab government turned down the summary for installation of tube wells by FWO due to unavoidable reasons.

According to data available with Pakistan Today, the CM wished that the FWO, which successfully completed the project of 69 tube wells, should be awarded the new project of installation of 50 tube wells in different parts of the city. But the project hit snags due to delay in finalisation of revised rates between the FWO and the Punjab government. On directions of the CM, WASA sent a letter of intent to FWO on February 8, 2010 referring letter number DMD (E) 3612-15 dated October 22, 2009 and letter number 607/General TW/50 dated December 15, 2009 regarding installation of 50 tube wells.

The letter said that it had been principally agreed on direction of the CM that the project of 50 tube wells would be carried out through the FWO. Initially, 4 tube wells were requested to be installed at sites of Jia Musas, Sheikhupura Road, Shahdara, Bara Dari, Farrukhabad Road Shahdara, Railway Officer Colony Walton Road and Janaz Gah Noshad Colony, Noshad Complex Walton. When the FWO demanded to revise rates, WASA sent another letter dated March 17, 2010 that it had been agreed by the competent authority that new rates for the next 50 tube wells, which had been already sent under PC-1 to the Punjab Planning and Development Department for approval, were almost the same as submitted by FWO to WASA. But after approval of PC-1, if it was observed that the rates approved in PC-1 were less than those as already submitted by FWO then a special summary for approval was moved to cover up the difference of rates in form of percentage above PC-1 rates from the CM through his PSO, the letter said.

According to government statistics, inflation had soared up to 24 percent in two years and how it could be possible to sign the contract of installation of new tube wells on former rates, FWO said. “The experience of installing 69 tube wells could not prove to be better and profitable but the FWO had to complete the project under the designated rates just to fulfill the commitment and respond to the trust reposed by Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif on us,” a FWO official added.