LAHORE, Jan 20: The Water and Power Ministry has been sitting on a tender file for the last three weeks and it may end up scuttling the same, causing a loss of millions of rupees to power consumers.

According to details, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had floated an international tender (No 2728) in June last for 1.5 million single phase energy meters and opened the bid on Aug 1, 2002, and found that four local manufacturers had quoted a price of Rs1,050 per meter against Rs768 by a Chinese company.

The authority negotiated with the Chinese company and was able to bring the price down to Rs730 per meter. It granted a Letter of Award in October last to the Chinese company after the due process.

Meanwhile, the local manufacturers, despite marketing expensive meters, sought the intervention of the ministries of Water and Power, Finance and Industries.

The ministries joined hands to seek different explanations from the authority and wrote a letter to Wapda on Jan 3, asking for technical details of the tender and the finalization mechanism.

According to a source in the authority, Wapda sent the reply on Jan 6. It maintained that the award of the contract to the Chinese would save it and consumers Rs200 million. The four local manufacturers had quoted the price of Rs1,050 and later reduced it to Rs850 per meter. Their act though cut the price down but also indicated the margin of profits they had been getting from Wapda (and people by extension as the authority had been passing on the burden to consumers).

The ministry sought further clarifications on 15th which were again replied on 16th. But the ministry did not respond. The authority sent another reminder, telling the ministry that the 180 days validity of the Chinese offer would expire on Jan 28, and it must hurry up. But no decision has so far been conveyed to the authority. According to another source in the authority, the Wapda Act provides full autonomy to it and the ministry cannot interfere in any of the purchases. But for the last three weeks, the ministry has been hampering the process for unknown reasons.

Meanwhile, the authority also issued a purchase order for 600,000 meters to the local manufacturers at an exorbitant price of Rs850 per meter in spite of having a valid bid of Rs768 per meter lying with it. Thus causing the consumers a loss of Rs510 million.

Now the fear is that if the ministry continues sitting on the file for another week and the validity expires, the Chinese would have all the rights to impose a penalty on Wapda, says a retired official of Wapda who is in knowledge of the process.

A former member power maintained that no one ever interfered in the process when the authority was purchasing meters without calling tenders at an unbelievable price of Rs1,125 per meter. Wapda had not floated tenders during the last three years and purchases were made through closed-door negotiations from local manufacturers.

“Now, for the first time in the last four years, Wapda is following its own rules but the government is bent upon ruining the process,” he said.