August 25, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-us-Sani 26

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window).

ISLAMABAD, Aug 24: Pakistan has approached the Turkish government to bring one of its company, Bayinder, onto the negotiating table, as the government wants an out-of-court settlement with it.

The Turkish contractor was “expelled” from the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway for not completing the project on time.

The official sources said that Pakistan had managed to convince the Turkish government that its intervention for bringing Bayinder onto the negotiating table was necessary.

Federal Minister for Communications, Ahmad Ali, is scheduled to visit Turkey in the first fortnight of September, for talks with his Turkish counterpart on the issue. He will be accompanied by the National Highway Authority officials.

The government of Pakistan, after expelling the contractor for its failure to complete two sections of the road according to schedule, finds itself in an unusual position as its efforts to encash over Rs4 billion bank guarantee offered by the Turkish banks have been thwarted by the Turkish courts.

The Turkish contractor, soon after its expulsion from the site of the project, approached the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, alleging that the Pakistani action was in violation of the Bilateral Investment Treaty that existed between Pakistan and Turkey.

The case has not yet been registered at the ICSID but the moment it is registered, the government would have to arrange a couple of million dollars to plead its case before the forum, which works under the umbrella of the World Bank, and there is no precedent that any country made a party to a dispute at ICSD could avoid appearing at the Centre.

The recent verdict of the ICSID on a similar application of the Swiss company, SGS, will not support the Turkish contractor, and the officials believe that it might strengthen Pakistan’s position when it sits for negotiating an out-of-court settlement.

The official sources said that Pakistan, after its failure to encash the Turkish contractor’s bank guarantee, has stopped accepting any bank guarantee offered by the Turkish banks, and the move is hurting the Turkish companies which are working in Pakistan.

These companies, the sources said, are now exerting their pressure on the Turkish government to play its role, as the conduct of one company, Bayinder, was jeopardizing their business in Pakistan.

The project which was started in 1993 with an estimated cost of Rs16 billion has already consumed more than Rs40 billion, and half of the money is out of national exchequer, but there is still no road.