ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: The governments of Pakistan and Turkey are working for an out-of-court settlement of the dispute between the National Highway Authority and the Turkish company, Bayinder.

The Turkish company had been given a contract for building the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway, but was subsequently expelled for its failure to complete the two sections on agreed schedule.

Major-Gen Farrukh Javed, Chairman National Highway Authority, said on Saturday that the government of Pakistan and Turkey were in touch for the settlement of the dispute.

The government, after expelling the Turkish firm, awarded the contract to a consortium of local contractors. The NHA and Turkish contractor have separate claims against each other.

The government wants to recover billions of rupees from the Turkish contractor, whereas the Turkish company has approached the International Chamber for Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID) for the recovery of US $450 million. The request of the Turkish contractor, however, has not been registered.

Speaking at a press conference in the backdrop of what he called a barrage of malicious and unsubstantiated charges by a coterie of former NHA employees, the NHA chairman said that Pakistan had awarded the contract to the Turkish company on highly favourable terms.

The NHA chief, who is a sitting army general, said the first mistake was committed by Pakistan, which paid 30 per cent of the total project cost in advance. The 156-kilometre-long road was estimated to be completed at a cost of Rs16.8 billion.

The mobilisation advance of 30 per cent was paid in dollars, and above all the contractor was allowed to take all the money out of Pakistan.

He said that after getting this huge amount, that too, in foreign currency, the Turkish contractor lost its interest in the project, and invested money in Belgium.

The NHA, he said, had no option but to “terminate” the contract of Bayinder.

Major-Gen Farrukh Javed said that when Turkish prime minister visited Pakistan recently, the matter was raised and it was agreed that efforts would be made to settle the dispute out of court.

Pakistan’s communications minister would visit Turkey in the current or next month to hold negotiations with his counterpart in Turkey in an attempt to amicably settle the dispute.

He said the NHA had filed a case in the Turkish court for encashing the bank guarantee but admitted that “it seems difficult” that money would be recovered through judicial proceedings.

He said the NHA was being “subjected to a vilification campaign” by certain vested interests, but vowed that he could not be intimidated, and he would continue resisting the pressure.

The NHA chief said that during the first few years of its establishment, the NHA remained off-track and a victim of political interventions, inner manipulations, and subjective aspirations of individuals and groups.

He said that through concerted measures, the National Highway Authority has been substantively pruned of inefficient and insincere elements and the authority was now functioning smoothly.