ISLAMABAD: An inquiry committee, formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to investigate irregularities in the Rs170 billion Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (Carec) project, has submitted its report, with a decision expected within this week.

A source in the Prime Minister’s Office told Dawn that the findings had been submitted to the premier in a sealed envelope, who is likely to decide the fate of the probe in “a day or so”.

In August, the PM had suspended eight senior Nat­ional Highway Authority (NHA) officials and for­med a committee to probe irregularities in the award of the contract, including ghost tendering, by the authority.

The inquiry committee included retired federal secretary Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmed as its convener, the commerce division secretary; retired NHA member Mukhtar Ahmed Durrani, retired chief engineer Akbar Ali, and a planning commission member.

The committee was asked to review NHA’s current practices related to blacklisting contractors; examine whether the NHA undertook due diligence during the opening of technical bids of Carec Tranche-III project; assess whether the NHA conducted the grievance redressal in the instant process in a transparent and judicious manner; evaluate all stages in the award of the project so far to ascertain unnecessary delays, if any; suggest a way forward on the current process; and review any other matter ancillary to the above.

Panel tasked with probing NHA’s current practices related to blacklisting contractors, evaluating award of project

The PMO source said nobody except the inquiry committee was aware of their decision.

The Economic Affairs Division committee, however, had recently questioned how the PM’s inquiry committee would reach a decision, given that the National Highway Authority had failed to provide relevant documents to the Senate committee for the past four months.

The Carec Tranche-III project has also come under scrutiny in five standing committees of the Senate and the National Assembly and the Public Procu­rement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).

In September, the Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Division recommended blacklisting a joint venture of three firms, which were awarded a project by the National Highway Authority in violation of the rules.

The Senate panel meeting also recommended sending a letter to the donor Asian Development Bank to apprise them that the bids were “technically invalid and were manipulated due to the mala fide intention of the NHA officials and contractors”.

Carec is an Asian Development Bank-supported initiative which was created in 1997 to encourage economic cooperation among countries in the Central Asian region. Tranche I, II and III road projects are underway or have been completed. Tranche-III has four lots as Lot-1 (58km road from Rajanpur to Jampur), Lot-2 (64km from Jampur to DG Khan), Lot-3 (112km from DG Khan to Tibbi Qaisrani), and Lot-4 (96km from Tibbi Qaisrani to DI Khan).

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2025