QUETTA: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Balochistan, on Wednesday filed a reference in an accountability court against three former chairmen of the Balochistan Development Authority (BDA) for misuse of authority and corrupt practices in the award of contract for installation of a water desalination plant in Gwadar.

The illegal award of the contract and payments to the companies for setting up the plant allegedly caused a loss of Rs1 billion to the national exchequer. The reference was filed against former BDA chairmen Muhammad Farooq, Sadat Anwar Qambrani and Ali Zaheer Hazara, director Javed Khan and contractors Ejaz Malik and Syed Mohammad Badar.

An investigation into the water desalination project, which was initiated to provide clean water to the residents of Gwadar, revealed that the BDA authorities in connivance with each other not only illegally awarded the contract to Ejaz Malik, the owner of Air Treatment, and Syed Mohammad Badar, the owner of Pure Pak Company, but also made advance payments in violation of rules and regulations.

According to the reference, the companies neither fell in the required category nor possessed relevant experience to set up a water desalination plant.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2021