ISLAMABAD: The World Bank trashed a US$ 18.5 million project to install Telemetry System, which needed working cooperation of multiple Pakistani authorities and ministries, including provinces and the federation.
Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered a probe which has also been completed, but the institutions involved are still blaming one another for the state’s collective failure and none is ready to take responsibility.
The inordinate delay and reports of alleged anomalies forced Prime Minister Imran Khan to intervene and constitute a four members high-level inquiry committee to probe into the matter, the inquiry committee has completed its job and finally submitted the report to Prime Minister secretariat.
The tug of war between federation and provinces particularly Sindh and Punjab started when one of the senior officials of federal ministry of water resources using the delaying tactics showed the door to the lowest winner of bid MM Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. This was allegedly done to facilitate semi-government consultancy company National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK).
departments assigned to keep an eye on working of ministries pointed out flaws in performance of Water ministry
Prime Minister Office has been receiving complaints of malpractices in federal ministry of water and its attached departments for past many months. The relevant departments assigned to keep an eye on working of ministries have also pointed out flaws in their reports on performance of the ministry.
The four member inquiry committee headed by a grade-21 officer Alamgir Khan, member (technical) in office of Chairman Federal Flood Commission (CFFC) after completing the job had submitted the report at Prime Minister Office in the last week of April.
A well-informed senior official of ministry of water resources requesting not to be named informed the scribe that Prime Minister Secretariat has sent the report back to the federal ministry concerned seeking the comments of relevant officials in Indus River System Authority (IRSA).
IRSA is not satisfied with inquiry committee report. Says skins being saved
IRSA claims that the inquiry committee fudged the facts of report in the findings of final document to save the skin of some influential officers of ministry concerned.
According to the findings of inquiry report, the representative of province Sindh, member IRSA Syed Mazhar Ali Shah was not willing on procurement and installation of telemetry system right from the start of the procurement process of the project.
Holding responsible IRSA member Sindh in the mega scam of millions of dollars water-related project funded by World Bank, Inquiry committee said the member IRSA Sindh in entire procurement process had never contributed as observed in minutes/record of various departmental meetings.
Similarly, on another point, inquiry committee shifting the burden towards member IRSA for Punjab province Rao Irshad and stated in the inquiry report that the said officer objected on performance of bid winner MM Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd.
Secretary IRSA, Khalid Idrees Rana on May 04 wrote a reply addressing to federal secretary ministry of water resources Muhammad Ashraf to justify the position of IRSA members in alleged mega scam of Telemetry System installation project, the copy of the official communication No. CE (O) IRSA/109/2744-48 between IRSA and ministry of water resources is available with The News Today.
The IRSA authority in its written reply informed the ministry water resources that under the head of PC-1 of World Bank funded project W-CAP, a part of the loan was earmarked for a pilot telemetry project. It initially envisaged flow measurement at 7 sites, which was successfully completed with the assistance of W-CAP staff under phase-1.
IRSA believed that the authority completed the initial procurement process of the contract and called M/S MM Pakistan for contract negotiations as per World Bank guidelines.
during second Meeting, team leader W-CAP gets email Questioning performance of M/S MM Pakistan.
First contract negotiation meeting was held on June 12, 2019 while the second meeting was held on June 19 the same year subsequently. However during the second meeting with M/S MM Pakistan for contract negotiations, IRSA authority received an email from the office of team leader W-CAP Naeem Khan directly reported to Project Director Syed Mehar Ali Shah asking to certify the expertise of key experts and performance of company and asked for certification of IRSA on performance of M/S MM Pakistan.
Interestingly the team leader W-CAP project was the part of Bid Evaluation Committee wherein M/S MM Pakistan stood at top ranking but on the other side he was questioning the performance of company. A senior official of IRSA authority confirmed that the team leader W-CAP project admitted in a meeting held on 30th August 2019 that the said email was actually drafted by the project director and the team leader was only following the strings.
World Bank Representative expresses concern over new evaluation
The representative and team leader of World Bank in Pakistan dealing with W-CAP project, William Young on 14th November 2019 at 1:34pm afternoon sent an official email to W-CAP team leader Naeem Khan stated that it is not appropriate to seek verification of experience after completion of the technical evaluation and after completion and signing of evaluation report.
Mr. Young clearly conveyed to the federal ministry of water resources that World Bank is annoyed and has rejected the proposal to initiate the re-bidding process on Telemetry System installation project. The copy of email written by World Bank representative in Pakistan is also available with The News Today.
The World Bank representative in his email informed to ministry of water resources and executing agency IRSA that either proceed with awarding the contract of telemetry project to MMP as advice previously by Bank and ensure an adequate experienced team to oversee and monitor closely the project implementation process. If IRSA feel it is risky to award the contract to winning company, they can cancel the procurement without rebidding and Bank will drop this activity from the project. This may cause the cancellation of funds from US dollar 11.5 to 18.5 million.
In response, to World Bank’s email the matter was brought into the knowledge of federal secretary water resources Muhammad Ashraf. After approval of Council of Common Interest (CCI) on 23rd December 2019, it was unanimously decided by all provinces and federation to install Telemetry System without any further delay.
Interestingly, In reply to the email of World Bank, the team leader W-Cap project, Naeem Khan an employee of ministry of water resources wrote an email to World Bank representative on 13 November 2019 and informed him that in a high power meeting chaired by federal secretary Muhammad Ashraf, it has been finally decided to award the contract of Telemetry installation project to M/S MM Pakistan in accordance to the World Bank’s advice.
member sindh says not all facts mentioned in inquiry report
Member IRSA Sindh, Syed Mazhar Ali Shah in his official comments through communiqué IRSA/M(S)/ 2684-85 on inquiry report, termed it dishonesty of inquiry committee members and alleged that probe body formed by federal secretary of water resources has not mentioned full facts in the finding of report.
“I have requested authority vide letter No. IRSA/A/M (S)/5158-60 on 28 September 2018 to get all provinces fully involved so that they should own the telemetry system, otherwise there will be repetition of the same mistake. The difference with the authority was on execution procedure of the project but there was consensus among members of the authority on the selection of the consultants”, member Sindh maintained.
A senior official of ministry of water resources claimed that in the federal ministries that are directly involved in awarding such contracts like ministry of energy, ministry of communication and ministry of water resources there is a strong lobby of a semi-government consultancy company National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) to grab the consultancy contracts worth billions of rupees.
The complainant MM Pakistan, told this scribe that in January 2019, the bidding process for awarding contract of consultancy on telemetry system was carried out. After thorough evaluation of financial and technical bids of shortlisted companies, MM Pakistan was declared the winner and all negotiations with officials were completed.
project director applies delaying tactics and later showed MM Pakistan doors
Later on, the project director at that time and the joint secretary ministry of water resources, in connivance of NESPAK officials, started delaying tactics and later showed their company doors.
Brushing aside autonomy of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA), federal ministry of water resources has silently awarded the project; ‘Automation of Water Discharge Monitoring’ to Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), which had failed to complete the same project in 2003 causing loss of Rs 345 million to the national exchequer.
Installation of Telemetry System, which needed working cooperation of multiple authorities and ministries, including provinces and the federation has been shelved. All of these people are blaming each other for the state’s collective failure and none is ready to take responsibility.
Also Read: Rivers’ water discharge monitoring project handed over to WAPDA once again
