The spokesperson of National Highway Authority (NHA) has issued clarification and a rebuttal of News stories published in Daily Observer mainly the one with title “Appointment of non-technical NHA Chief resulted in Billion of Rupees over payments to private contractors”.
The whole news item is based on the Printed Para 2.5.53 of Financial Year 2019-20 which has been thoroughly examined and enquired by the committee of GM (Design) and GM (Monitoring & Inspection) as advised by the audit. The said project is ADB funded project and any variation in the quantities cost is approved by the ADB technical side before its payment to the contractor. The report was presented in a DAC meeting held on 29th June 2022 where after a detailed deliberation the para was settled on merit. This DAC meeting was attended by six concerned offices including senior officers of Finance Division.
The story further alleges the so-called Rs. 10 Billion loss to national exchequer in the last two years which shows insufficient understanding of the reporter regarding the highly technical issue of CSR. This is totally baseless assertion as the main objective of CSR (Composite Schedule of Rates) is to provide a realistic reference base for preparing Cost Estimate/PC-1 and evaluation of Bids for National Highway Authority’s Projects in particular and in general for various Government Departments and Construction Industry. CSR rates do not represent contractor rates and are only used to evaluate the market for a competitive bidding process. The sole purpose of making a fuss out of a settled issue seems to be not more than maligning a public sector organization and Government officers/officials who perform their duties with whole-hearted dedication.
NHA’s spokes person and Public Relation Directorate further clarified this story was authored by reporter namely Rana Tassadaq Hussain who did not seek NHA’s version before publishing such news. _PR
