Winder Dam contract awarded to a favourite causing Rs4b loss
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The national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs4 billion as the contract for the planned Winder Dam in Balochistan was awarded to a favourite company, Irfan Malik, who is the deputy bureau chief in Islamabad, reported for 24NewsHD TV channel on Thursday.
According to a complaint filed at the Prime Minister’s Citizen Portal, the provincial government has awarded the contract for construction works with a complete disregard for transparency.
It is mentioned in the complaint that the contract was awarded for Rs14 billion despite the fact that the other eight companies taking part in the tendering process had offered much lower bids.
Saying that the Balochistan government took the decision to reward the said company, allegations have also been levelled against the important members of the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) in this connection.
Meanwhile, the provincial chief secretary, who started investigating the matter after receiving the complaint, will now submit a report on the issue to the prime minister.
The proposed dam is situated across Winder River 125 kilometres from Karachi, 66 kilometres from Uthal and 25 kilometres from Winder town in Lasbela district. It is said that the dam will irrigate an area of 10,000 acres.
However, the work on the project funded by the Ministry of Water and Power has not been launched so far.
With a gross storage capacity of 36,484 acre feet, there will also be a small electricity generation unit at the dam. The 0.3MW power plant is to be developed on public-private partnership mode.