Islamabad: Considering revelations of Rs470b irregularities in road construction projects by AGP’s audit report for FY 2016-17, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has demanded the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman to act on this.
Member PAC, Dr Arif Alvi has written a letter to Syed Khursheed Shah urging him to take action on the reported Rs470b irregularities, said a Dawn report.
Alvi wrote “I am requesting you to call an urgent meeting of the PAC on the specific issue as gross violations leading to massive corruption — actually ‘plunder’ — are evident in these transactions.”
According to the letter, Rs470b irregularities had been found in 52 cases of National Highway Authority’s accounts in an audit report prepared by Auditor General of Pakistan office for FY 2016-17.
Profit had reported Irregularities worth billions have been uncovered in road projects awarded to National Highway Authority (NHA) by auditor general of Pakistan (AGP) office.
Certain projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor also were reported to be a part of it. An audit for financial year 2016-17 into National Highway Authority (NHA) accounts revealed a misappropriation worth Rs470b in 52 cases.
This included irregular awarding of contracts, infringement of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and unauthorized expenditures were noted.
Auditors observed that in 102 cases, internal control weaknesses had led to massive losses of Rs470b. The report highlighted seven cases of poor performance which included putting additional burden on national exchequer, mismanagement and inefficient utilization which caused a loss of Rs7b to national exchequer.
