LAHORE, June 10: The price of the single-phase electricity meter was reduced to Rs650 from Rs830 when Wapda opened its latest tender (2735) on Tuesday.
The authority had issued the tender in March for the purchase of one million meters, which was due to open on May 10. But the bid document was not prepared by the date, and the deadline was extended by a month.
As many as 14 companies participated in the tender. According to the prices mentioned, Escorts Pakistan Limited quoted Rs820, Pak-Electron Ltd (PEL) Rs820, KZK Industrial and Commercial Company Rs776, Syed Bhais (pvt) Ltd Rs820, Shaning Associates Karachi Rs707, SB Electronics Rs810, the Ashlar (pvt) Ltd Rs647, Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) Rs850, Success Ningbo Company Rs650 and SB Electronics China Rs810.
Wapda had been purchasing meters from local companies at a much higher cost than those repeatedly quoted in such international tenders by the foreign companies.
It scuttled the previous international tender (2728) when it placed order for 1.2 million meters to a group of four local manufacturers at a rate of Rs820 despite having an option of buying meters at Rs730 per piece from a Chinese company. Consequently, the consumers have to bear an additional cost of Rs90 per metre and a cumulative loss of over Rs120 million.
Later, when the Chinese ambassador protested against the Wapda’s decision, its chairman, in a letter to the envoy, defended the authority’s decision to award the contract to the local manufacturers at a higher price by claiming that it was under the legal obligation to protect them. However, this claim contradicted the chairman’s previous letter addressed to the water and power ministry in which he claimed that by awarding contract to the local companies, the authority would cause a loss of Rs200 million to its consumers.
The four local manufacturers had quoted Rs1,050 per piece and later reduced it to Rs850. This showed how much the margin of profit these had been getting from Wapda. In fact, the consumers have to bear the burden indirectly.
The latest tender, which is still to go through technical and other scrutinies, has brought the price further down by Rs80. In the previous tender, a Chinese company had quoted Rs730 per metre, but now another company from China has brought its price down to Rs650. Now if the authority finds the companies meeting technical standards and places order with them, the price may come down by Rs180 per metre. The authority had been purchasing such kind of meters at Rs1,125 for the last four years, and it passed on the relief of Rs400 to consumers when prices came down to Rs830 during the last tender.
When this reporter tried to contact Wapda officials, no one was available for comments.
