LAHORE: The removal of LDA chief engineer due to ‘delay’ in the completion of the Firdous Market underpass on Monday came at a time when the official had recommended imposition of a heavy penalty (around Rs100m) on the ‘influential’ contractor.

After a surprise visit to the project site, Chief Minister Usman Buzdar ordered removal of Chief Engineer Muhammad Habibul Haq Randhawa and issued show-cause notices to the director general (DG) and the additional DG over the delay in completion of the project. The next day (Nov 3), the LDA placed the services of Mr Randhawa at the disposal of the Communication and Works Department.

“He is hereby relieved from all assignments in LDA,” a notification said.

According to an official letter of Oct 28, the contractor (Maqbool Associates) failed to fulfill its contractual obligations for completion of the underpass within a period of four months.

“From the perusal of the work schedule submitted by the contractor, it can be revealed that the contractor firm couldn’t execute core components of the work i.e. concrete work of barrel and subsequently the asphalt of road well on time. So having smelled slow progress of the contractor, this office vide letters (Dated July 24 and Aug 17) directed the contractor firm to speed up the work for timely completion of the project in this urban area. Unfortunately, the contractor couldn’t respond as per his contractual obligations,” said the letter written by the chief engineer.

Official had recommended imposition of Rs100m penalty on Firdous Market underpass contractor for delaying project

It also sought action against the contractor under clause 39 of the contract that empowered the authorities to impose a penalty of an amount of maximum of 10pc of the estimated cost of the project.

“The above advice in para 4 is without prejudice and in the interest of the work,” the letter, which was also sent to the top LDA authorities for information concluded.

The civil works on over Rs1.55bn Firdous market underpass (including land acquisition) was launched formally in the first week of June after the CM laid its foundation stone on May 18. Under the contractual obligations, the project was to be completed in the first week of October but it is yet to be completed. The project components included construction of the underpass, laying new sewer/water supply and drainage lines, shifting of services, drains etc.

The reasons (other than the recommendation for imposing penalty on the contractor for slow pace of work) behind delay in the completion of the project also included the delay in announcement of the award for land acquired for the project allegedly on the part of the revenue department, delay in releasing payments and procedural bottlenecks.

Upset over the government decision, Mr Randhawa said those present on the site during the CM’s visit were given a chance through show-cause notices to explain their position/stance. “But I (not present on the site) was removed from the post instantly without giving opportunity to explain my position.”

He said his recommendation for imposition of penalty on the contractor was in accordance with the law and clauses of the contract document.

“I have reasons to believe that conspiracy to remove me from the post started after I recommended imposition of a heavy penalty on the contractor,” he maintained.

LDA Vice Chairman S.M. Imran said a contractor could not get a chief engineer removed. “I don’t think so that the contractor is so powerful.”

He said being the chief engineer, Randhawa was responsible to get the project completed within the timeline. He said the chief engineer had given a deadline to the CM twice but failed to do the needful. When asked about the warning letters written earlier by the chief engineer to the contractor over slow pace of work, he said the engineer was not supposed to write letters alone.

Answering another question, Mr Imran said the contractor firm was not found to be blacklisted at the time of award of the contract. “Under a court decision, the firm was removed from the blacklisted category.”

LDA DG Ahmad Aziz Tarar was not available for a comment.

It is pertinent to mention that the Maqbool Associates, in a joint venture with another firm, reportedly violated the contract while it was engaged for civil works of the Lahore Orange Line Metro Train Project’s package-II in 2015. It led to its blacklisting by the Punjab government with imposition of millions of rupees penalty. The firm later managed to get the Peshawar BRT project, which faced considerable a delay.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2020