ISLAMABAD, Oct 17: A leading Chinese construction company which had been awarded the Jaglot-Skardu road project has strongly protested over the cancellation of the contract.

“The contract cannot be scrapped without any valid and solid ground,” China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) vice president Yang Yisheng said in a letter to the National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman on October 12, urging him that the ‘project is in Pakistan’s interest and should not be derailed’.

“Conditionality of approval of the government of Pakistan is not a carte blanche for arbitrary decision. The case must be processed by the internal formal structure of NHA, CDWP and the ECNEC,” Yisheng said.

The project to improve and widen Jaglot-Skardu road in Gilgit Baltistan, signed during the visit of President Asif Zardari in 2010, has been reportedly scrapped by the Ministry of Communication on the ground that the process of contract was not transparent.

The project had been signed between NHA and CGGC, a leading construction company owned by the central government of China which is presently constructing the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project.

Reacting strongly over the cancellation of the project, Yisheng reiterated that the project had been processed transparently and its ToRs were the same as offered to similar projects in the area to other companies including the recently concluded Ataabad Lake road diversion project.

The CGGC official informed the NHA chairman that the company for the project had already invested a lot of resources and time in designing and negotiations which spanned over two years.