ISLAMABAD: The Employees Old-age Benefit Institution (EOBI) has accused the National Highway Authority of foul play in the award of the Rs24.93 billion Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway construction contract to a Malaysian company, saying the NHA ignored the lowest bid offered by it.

A top EOBI official told Dawn on Sunday that his organisation had offered to build the project of international standard at a cost of Rs18 billion – Rs6 billion less than what had been offered by the Malaysian company – but “our bid was not even opened because we could not pay kickbacks”.

On Jan 16, the NHA signed the contract with M/s Binapuri Holdings of Malaysia.

The EOBI official said his organisation had been long working to win the contract and had spent Rs4 million on the spadework. “We had hired top consultants and formed a consortium of well-reputed construction companies to execute the project, but were disappointed at the eleventh hour,” he said.

“We had offered the NHA to construct a motorway of world standard at a cost of Rs18 billion on the Build, Operate and Transfer basis. Our bid was Rs6 billion less than what the foreign company offered, but our bid was not even opened because we could not pay kickbacks,” the official alleged.

He said the EOBI was one of the richest institutions in the country and it wanted to invest in lucrative schemes to expand its sources of income for the welfare of workers.

Federal Minister for Communications Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, when asked why the EOBI was not allowed to participate in the bidding, said the EOBI was a welfare institution and had no mandate to execute such projects.

He said all the provinces had share in the EOBI funds and they had objected to EOBI’s participation in the bidding process, so “we rejected its bid”.

But the EOBI official, who wished not to be identified, disagreed. He said the EOBI had the mandate to invest in any project in order to enhance its revenue for the benefit of workers.

The official said the NHA had offered the EOBI to invest in other projects, vindicating the EOBI’s stand that it could invest in road construction projects.