ISLAMABAD, Nov 22: Federal Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi on Wednesday admitted before the Senate that the telemetry system was defective and the multi-national company that provided the equipment was responsible for it.

"Siemens is responsible for providing second-hand equipment," the minister said while responding to supplementary queries during the question hour in the upper house.

"Siemens installed it for Rs320 million before I took over. There are some software and hardware problems," the minister said, inviting criticism from the opposition benches.

Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour said Siemens was a reputed multi-national company so how could it provide used equipment without the involvement of some officials of the water and power ministry.

Mr Jatoi said he was holding a meeting in this regard on Nov 28 and any one found responsible would be taken to task.

He said the government had ordered revamping of the telemetry system and PC-I of the project had been finalised.

He claimed that the dispute between Sindh and Balochistan over water distribution had been resolved and there would be no shortage of water in the country.

Later, the minister again faced severe criticism from the opposition senators when he admitted that the pace of work on various water projects was slow.

"Yes, the pace of work on Mangla Dam raising, Kacchi Canal and Gomal Zam Dam projects remained slow," the minister said.

Citing reasons for the delay in Gomal Zam Dam project, Mr Jatoi said the Chinese contractor discontinued the work on Oct 9, 2004, due to the killing of Chinese engineers. The contract with the Chinese firm was terminated on April 14, this year, when the contractor demanded $60 million more due to security concerns. He said that after the demand the matter was referred to the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet, which decided to award the contract to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO).

Senator Raza Mohammad Raza of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party alleged that the area people had said that the Chinese engineers had been kidnapped and killed by those who wanted the contract for the FWO.