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Mohmand Dam inauguration ceremony postponed again
The much-awaited inauguration ceremony of the Mohmand Dam scheduled for Sunday was postponed for at least the second time this month, government officials said.
The ceremony for the dam was to be held on January 2 but was rescheduled until today due to a controversy that emerged following the award of the contract of the hydropower project.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai confirmed to DawnNewsTV that the ceremony today had been postponed.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Media Iftikhar Durrani said a new date would be announced after consultation with Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who would attend the inauguration ceremony.
Durrani ruled out the impression that the project's inauguration had been delayed due to any controversies. He said the tender for the project was awarded in the PML-N government's tenure and the incumbent government had no role in the matter.
Chief Justice Nisar had last week taken offence over not being informed about the rescheduling of the ceremony and had said he may not attend.
Justice Nisar has paid close attention to the issue of water scarcity and had ordered the creation of the Dam Fund in July last year ─ a fund that appeals to the general public and overseas Pakistanis for donations for the construction of the Mohmand Dam and the Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
The top judge's initiative was later joined by the prime minister. Within a span of five months, a total of Rs8.46bn was deposited in The Supreme Court of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund, according to State Bank of Pakistan data in December 2018.
Justice Nisar and Prime Minister Imran Khan were to be the chief guests of today's event.
Mohmand Dam contract controversy
The dam contract was awarded on a single-bid basis to a consortium of three companies led by Descon, a company previously owned by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, in which he and his family members currently hold ownership stakes.
A second contestant for the bid, a consortium comprising the Frontier Works Organisation, Andritz Hydro and Power China was technically disqualified and its financial bid was not considered, some top-ranking national contractors cited by Dawn said earlier.
The award of the bid to the Descon-led consortium raised questions about a possible conflict of interest and the process of the award.
Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda claimed the controversy around the award of the dam's contract has been created "on the agenda of international powers".
He said that Dawood had already resigned from the company before the bidding was held on July 18 ─ before the new government came to power. He added that the PM's adviser had nothing to do with the contract and had no way to influence the bidding process.
Descon only holds 30pc of shares in the consortium and the bids were evaluated by technical experts comprising Nespak, an Australian company, and another foreign firm, according to Vawda.
Wapda Chairman Hussain said that it was coincidental that the single bidder's price was also almost the same as estimated by the government and insisted there was no conflict of interest in the award of the contract to a company having links with a sitting cabinet member.
Although Hussain agreed that Descon was linked to Dawood, he maintained it had nothing to do with the bidding conducted by Wapda and dismissed the notion that he or the body was facing pressure over the groundbreaking of the project.
Abdul Razak Dawood in a statement also explained that he had founded and headed Descon like several other business ventures, but had disclosed all his business associations in writing to the prime minister and resigned from these positions before joining the government to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest.
The Mohmand Dam project
The construction of the Rs309 billion Mohmand dam ─ which will be situated on the Swat river in the Manda area ─ is said to be imperative to resolve the problems of water scarcity and electricity shortfall in the country.
A sum of Rs2bn has been allocated for the project in the Public Sector Development Programme 2018-19.
Work on the dam will begin this month and is expected to be complete within five years. It will have the capacity to store 0.676 MAF of water and generate 800 megawatts of electricity. It will also irrigate 16,000 acres of land and increase agricultural production in the area.
The completion of the project will require 8,668 acres of land mostly in Mohmand tribal district and some parts of Bajaur and Malakand.
Comments (37) Closed
Only a photo opportunity for the CJP - nothing more, nothing less. The reality is different.
Good initiative by the CJP. Their always will be talk of conflict of interest. It should have been solved before the start of the project.
It is very unfortunate that the Chief Justice has become part of a political government by attending official ceremony of opening the dam. CJP is not a public face and must avoid political gatherings and rather focus on providing speedy justice to the people.
First PTI and CJ kept claiming that PMLN did not do anything for the dam. Then, they took a u turn and claimed that contract was actually awarded in last govt's term!! Now, CJ wants to get full credit for it, although he could not generate even 1% of dam's cost!!
Descon is one of the best engineering companies in Pak. Y does opposition politicize everything. This is what they could have done when they had the reigns.
Against the prohect cost of Rs 309 billion only Rs 2 billion budgeted in 2018-19!!! At this rate it will take 150 years to build the dam...without even considering cost escalation !!
It is a very good happening as Pakistani private company Descon shall be gaining access to hydraulic dam from Chinese giant which will be useful for Pakistan in maintaining the dam after it's commissiong.
Wise decision by the government to inaugrate Mohmand dam before CJ's retirement. The project is close to CJ's heart and his presence at the inaugration would serve as a recognition of his efforts to highlight water shortage issue in Pakistan.
PM Khan, CJP Nisar expected to attend Mohmand Dam inauguration today ... Since it is inaugrated by Chief justice, Please make sure that water is justly distributed to both the rich and poor... and that could probably build trust for Kalabaugh dam...
Good initiative. Time to focus on irrigation projects, as water conservation and hydro power is need of the hour.
Wondering if they would be in a position to complete the construction of this project and make it operational soonest, with the amount of money collected / allocated to it?
We do not want something left in the middle, just due to controversies
2 Great Patriots- love you both
We need water and electricity desperately. The project is the life line for people of Pakistan. It should be started immediately with full swing.
Two billion allocated by the Government is not enough. There should be more allocation through raising funds as a surcharge on imports to expedite the project in shortest possible time.
Let it not be victim of controversy as we did before in case of another dam.
performed or not the inauguration stone should include the CJ name since he has spearheaded the construction of the dam. If it were not to him the dam might have ended up as another political controversy
@Omer,
Plans is one thing, implementation is another matter. Remember Nandipur
Descon is only Pakistani company among world’s largest 500. Also it is only local company with experience on large projects. Second bidder is clearly not capable to construct this large dam.
Blame the postponement on PML-N; expect a statement on it from the federal info minister.
@Omer,
This contract was not "awarded in last govt's term" of PMLN that you wrongly purport.
PMLN govt's term finished on 31 May 2018 and as the news states here "the bidding was held on 18 July 2018". Check before you make misleading claims!
@Vinay, The fund wasn't just created to cover all the costs of dam, it served multi fold benefits like:
-- Spreading awareness among general public of the water scarcity issue. -- and to get people involved in this project, this helps keep tabs on a project. -- moreover, the amount generated can still be used, we obviously still need other 307 b to be covered. -- something is better than nothing.
@Vinay, I think the allocation for this year, its ok. By June if they spend this much really for the dam its a great effort. The financial year ends by June.
No reason given for postponement...
In my view, what both honerable CJP and PM Imran Khan have done, no previous governments done, because they had hidden agendas to please their masters. Such politicians are disgrace for nation and responsible for current political, financial and social crisis.
Will this dam ever start. So sad
Rs 8.46 bn were deposited in the fund, a generous contribution from the public. The ordinary citizen is well aware of the shortage of water, sadly politicians are mishandling the project.
This project was awarded during PMLN / Nawaz Sharff's government.
Of the Rs. 309 bln required, already Rs. 2 bln budgeted this yaer. Only a small amount left for the next 4 years !!
@Anti-Corruption_Pakistani, you do know the planning and indeed initial tender process was done prior to pti winning elections...
All agree that building dam is a necessity..then why make it controversial? The longer the project is delayed, longer will be the crisis. PM IK must act quick..ignore your critics on this issue.....
@Jalbani Baloch, I agree to a degree, but the only reason the CJP got involved was because the government’s have failed to recognize the importance of drinking water for the people, so the CJP decided enough is enough. Now I don’t agree with the CJP on certain issues and his involvement, but this Dam situation I agree with.
The notion that the bid was close to the government’s figures is nonsense, the bidding should still be made public where every company has a chance to put forth their bid, so I completely disagree with the government’s response. Can’t bake your cake and eat it too.
@Saif Zulfiqar, nonono it was initialed by previous Gov, but bid evaluation was done during this Government, that is y the news came out as all competition was eleminated during evaluation and single bidder left.
Another flip flop
Chairman Wapda's comment expose/raise yet another possible collusion/ red flag of a serious nature at some stage of this project. Just how is it possible that for such a capital intensive project involving thousands of ingredients, thousands of human resource of varying skillset and megatons of money, financial estimate of end customer ie Wapda and contractor were almost the same, raises a whole bunch of red flags and foul smell. What if PC1 budgeted amount was whispered/relayed to Descon somehow so that their bid remains within budget - precondition for smooth award and often happens in tenders with high stakes and political connections. This slip of tongue from such a responsible person is perhaps a confession of some sort and merits attention and further probe
If contract was awarded during PML N government then why credit is being taken by PTI and CJP.
This is a joke ! Even inaugration date cannot be fixed...
@Fk, Not so much of credit its a discredit already :D and goes to none but IK alone...
Construction of the Dam should go ahead immediately.