ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on House and Library on Tuesday expressed displeasure over the delays in the construction of 104 additional family suites and servant quarters in Parliament Lodges.

The meeting, which was held at Parliament House on Tuesday, was also annoyed about the absence of the Habib Rafique managing director, who had been called by the committee for a personal hearing regarding the construction.

During the meeting, committee chairman Acting National Assembly Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi said the project began in May 2011 and was supposed to be completed in 2013 but had yet to be completed due to the poor performance of the construction firm.

He issued directions to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to resolve any hurdles in the project’s completion.

Mr Abbasi said the contractor had been provided sufficient opportunities for personal hearing, but always made excuses and misled the committee. He added that the contractor had made several commitments before the committee regarding the timely completion of the project, but could not fulfil them.

He added that the committee had cooperated with the firm in all respects but the firm had failed to complete the project, which was why the committee had unanimously recommended blacklisting the firm from executing any National Assembly project in the future.

However, he said, the firm then obtained a stay order against the committee’s decision, and had been using delaying tactics for the last four years. Mr Abbasi said whenever action was taken against the firm, it tried to hide behind the stay orders of the honourable court or the arbitrator.

The committee was of the view that the contractor intentionally did not want to complete the project, and was using delaying tactics to gain time. It also said that because the project had not been completed, parliamentarians could not be provided official accommodation for the last four years.

The committee also expressed dissatisfaction over the response of a Habib Rafique representative who was present on behalf of the firm. Mr Abbasi said the firm had not given any solid reason for the inordinate delay and the objections raised were of a petty nature. He directed the National Assembly Secretariat and CDA to actively pursue the case to blacklist the firm from executing any National Assembly project in the future, and to submit a record of the committee meeting in this regard before the court.

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2018