The Ministry of Water and Power has called for a detailed report from Chairman Wapda on a news story by Dawn on Thursday that reported violations in the award of a contract on the Neelum-Jhelum project.

In a letter issued on Thursday, the ministry directed the chairman to furnish the report within three days for further necessary action.

While a reply from the Wapda is keenly awaited, a spokesperson of the authority “strongly refuted” the said news story filed by Dawn’s Ahmad Fraz Khan, entitled “Violation of rules alleged in award of transmission line contract”.

The spokesperson contended that award of the construction work of the Neelum-Jhelum transmission line was “carried out in accordance with provisions of law and rules”. He said “the transfer of the project from NTDC to the Wapda is in conformity with the provisions of the Wapda Act” and that “Wapda is equipped to execute the assignment”

The spokesperson said that Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project is being constructed on fast track basis.

Dawn’s report was based on Wapda’s in-house correspondence but the spokesperson said this was a routine matter “which requires bringing all the details of the project before the authority for consideration and decision making”.

It may be mentioned here that the entire report was based on documentary evidence. The violation of the bidding rules was pointed out by none other than the Board of Directors of the NTDC. The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) validated those objections and recommended re-tendering of the transmission line. The dissenting note of the member finance of the Wapda, which formed the basis of the news report, also underlined those violations.