LAHORE, June 22: In a recent report on the Chashma Hydropower Project, the Auditor-General of Pakistan has pointed out a loss of Rs15.606 billion due to misappropriation, delay and some other forms of bungling.
In his report to the president, the AG has pointed out a loss of Rs11.852 billion because of an inordinate delay in project’s execution.
The project was approved by the ECNEC on Dec 31, 1989, and was supposed to be completed by January 1992 at a cost of Rs5.968 billion. However, the cost was later revised to Rs10.557 billion with work to be completed in 1997 and then to Rs17.821 billion with completion in 2000.
The report says that it took the authorities concerned six years to complete the formalities before actual commencement of the project in February 1995. The delay has been attributed to wrong planning.
The report says that an avoidable liability of Rs1.208 billion was paid on account of storage/demurrage charges. To begin with, in February 1996, Wapda paid the contractor Rs81 million. But it later stopped the financial assistance, and the material could not be cleared in time. Consequently, the storage/demurrage charges accumulated to the tune of Rs1.208 billion.
The audit observed that Wapda had revised the tender conditions to favour the contractor without taking into account the reservations of Central Contract Cell. It accepted an additional responsibility without evaluating its financial repercussions. On the interference of ECC, the material was cleared by the Karachi Port, but the authority asked to pay a penalty.
The report recommended a probe for fixing responsibility for this avoidable liability and recovering the amount from the contractor who had failed to get the material cleared in time.
The report also points out that a civil contractor was paid an interest of Rs83.698 million on delayed payment. The project director contended that the payment was made because necessary funds were not available. But the planning division stated that full allocations were made in the respective financial years, and recommended further probe to fix responsibility.
The report also states that a sum of Rs1.945 million was not recovered in addition to other direct costs of repairs in the powerhouse. A panel of experts assessed that 80 per cent of the money should be paid by the consultant and 20 per cent by the contractor. However, the project authorities failed to recover both direct and consequential costs.
Another Rs70 million was paid on account of hiring 35 vehicles for the Wapda staff and consultants. The vehicles were used much beyond the stipulated time of the project and some were still being used when this report was finalised. Had the authority assessed its needs properly and transferred those vehicles to other projects or purchased or even got them on lease instead of hiring them, it could have saved Rs70 million.
The construction of residential buildings beyond requirement at a cost of Rs222 million has also been questioned by the AG along with an unjustified payment of Rs588 million on account of the material used in the project.
The AG also maintained that Wapda had appointed “inept consultants” who failed to discharge their duties despite costing the authority Rs621 million. The performance of both consultants and contractors had been unsatisfactory, it maintained.
