KARACHI, Nov 2: Tent makers have failed to provide 3,000 fully fabricated tents by the November 2 deadline to the Sindh government for their onward shipment to earthquake victims.

So far the Sindh government has procured 550 tents in the last two days from the manufacturers, which have been dispatched to the Federal Relief Commission. The provincial government will get 600-700 tents by November 3 to make the total around 1,200 from the date of agreement, which still falls short of requirement committed by the manufacturers.

Raisuddin Paracha, who inked the agreement on Oct 27 on behalf of the Sindh government, told Dawn that the tent makers had also committed a weekly and daily schedule of supply, but they were not coming up with the required supplies. Initially, the government was willing to have 5,000 tents before Eid, but the quantity was reduced to 3,000 tents on the request of the manufacturers because of Eid holidays and shortage of labour force.

Mr Paracha said the delay in procurement of tents was due to manufacturers’ failure in meeting the specification criteria. “Sometimes they send high quality samples but problems occurred when the quality did not match finished products. And sometimes their samples have been rejected.”

He added that sometimes improper waterproofing of tents and inaccurate weight of fabric had been identified, as some of the main specification criteria failed to match with the terms and condition.

In another development, he said, the tent makers had requested the Sindh government for the clearance of previous orders procured soon after the deadly earthquake from private parties. Some private parties have also made the same request to the government.

“We have issued an NOC by clearing 1,450 tents of the private parties after finding that the orders aimed for private shipment do not match with our specification,” he said, adding that some more 1,400 tents were to be released on the instructions of the Core Headquarters by Thursday.

The manufacturers are running their industries with full capacity to meet the deadline of private parties but failed to meet Sindh government’s orders of 60,000 tents to be provided in one-and-a-half months, Mr Paracha said, claiming that 25 per cent of the advance payment (Rs90 million out of total Rs370 million) had been given to the tent makers.

“We will soon inform the Sindh chief secretary in writing about the inordinate delay on the part of tent makers,” he said, adding that he had verbally discussed the issue with higher authorities of the provincial government.

A vast price difference between the tent makers with the Sindh government and with the private parties can be attributed as one of the reasons for the delay. The tent makers appear not satisfied with the price fixed by the government as compared to high prices offered by the private parties.

A leading tent maker on the condition of anonymity told Dawn that by November 3, the Sindh government will get 1,600-1,700 tents. In reply to a query that the tent makers have actually failed to meet the November 2 deadline, he said the makers were confused over the specification problems.

“We had been kept in the dark that the Army team will inspect our samples and finished products,” he maintained. Besides, the tent makers had not received the 25 per cent advance payment from the Sindh government. The manufacturers got the cheques last Friday, but till Tuesday they could not be cashed as some of them had bounced, he claimed.

When the tent makers could not get the payment on time, then how could they make timely procurement of basic raw materials from the market, he asked, adding that in the meantime the cost of fabric has surged by Rs10 per metre, as 50 makers from Punjab, who got the payment well on time and had to meet the target of producing 210,000 tents, had lifted the cloth from the market.

He said Mr Paracha had informed him that the government had issued instructions to two tent makers for the release of their tents to the private parties whose orders were procured soon after the earthquake.

He claimed that the specification of tents had been changed in Punjab and the Sindh government should also follow the suit.