ISLAMABAD, Oct 18: The National Highway Authority (NHA) has offered an out-of-court settlement to the Turkish construction company, Bayinder, which is seeking international arbitration after its contract for the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1) was cancelled in 1997.

The company’s contract had been cancelled after it had completed 29 per cent of work on the M-1 project on the pretext of not meeting certain construction deadlines. The company had challenged the NHA decision in the International Court of Arbitration.

NHA’s Chairman Maj-Gen Farrukh Javed told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly on Wednesday that the offer had been made in a letter which he had sent to the company on Tuesday. He said that the offer had been made in view of the good ties enjoyed by Pakistan and Turkey. Bayinder had been awarded the project in 1994.

Maj-Gen Farrukh said cost of the project was estimated to be Rs16.8207 billion in 1994. When the Turkish company left, the 70 per cent incomplete project was re-tendered for Rs12billion.