Senate committee recommends blacklisting of Sinohydro and GOPA

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Power has recommended blacklisting Sinohydro and GOPA primarily due to their ‘poor capacity’ to operate a double circuit transmission line, as well as strict action against the NTDC Board of Directors and officials of power division involved in keeping an eye on M/s Sinohydro and M/s GOPA’s capacity.

Senator Saifullah Abro, Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Power, presided over a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Power at Parliament House on Friday.

The meeting thoroughly reviewed the construction of the 250 km long double circuit 765 kV transmission line from Dasu Hydropower Plant to Islamabad West Substation, the tendering method of this project, the current status of work done so far, the work order, the completion certificate, the experience of working firms, the number of companies participating in the bidding process, and so on.

The committee’s chairman stated that the committee has been reviewing these issues for 6 months. The issues were thoroughly discussed ad addressed during yesterday’s committee meeting, and some documents were requested from the relevant institutions. The standing committee was told that the documents requested had been delivered. The committee will shortly get documents pertaining to Mansehra and Islamabad. The committee was informed that the project was carried out in accordance with World Bank criteria. World Bank documentation and an appraisal report have also been submitted in this regard.

The committee members stated that there has been a lot of discussion on these problems. The Chairman Committee should give instructions to the relevant institutions regarding the matter.

According to the Chairman Committee, Gopa lacked the capacity to work on this project and lacked the necessary experience. He said according to the documents provided, the company is not eligible for these works and as per the law there are separate documents for each lot of the project. He said that the committee will not support any form of corruption at all. He said the Power Division should write to the World Bank to blacklist Sino Hydro and Gopa and take strict action against the board of directors of NTDC and other people of the ministry who are involved in this corruption according to the law. The World Bank should retender this project to some other companies. He said that things are clear in lot two also that those companies do not qualify. The rest of the lots will also be examined in detail in the upcoming meetings.

The Chairman Committee also said that the instructions given by the Standing Committee while reviewing the matters should be ensured. In yesterday’s meeting of the Standing Committee, it was decided that there are ample evidence of irregularities being committed by the erstwhile BoD, NTDC and M/s GOPA.

Therefore, the committee directed the Power Division to take strict action against the alleged officials and recommended to refer the case to FIA or NAB and submit a report within a week. Further, the Standing Committee had unanimously decided and directed the Power Division to write to the World Bank to inform about the irregularities in awarding the contract.

Friday’s meeting of the Standing Committee was attended by Senator Asad Ali Junejo, Senator Saifullah Sarwar Khan Niazi, Senator Fida Muhammad, Senator Haji Hidayatullah Khan and senior officials of related institutions including Power Division and NTDC.