The sub-committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Communications criticised on Thursday the National Highway Authority (NHA) for “awarding contracts to a blacklisted company” and for its continued non-cooperation with the parliamentary body, according to a statement from the Senate Secretariat.
The meeting was convened by Senator Kamil Ali Agha.
The committee reviewed the Terms of Reference (TORs) to probe the Tranche-III Rajanpur–D.G. Khan–D.I. Khan AREC project and to examine the NXCC arbitration clearance from the Lodhran–Multan project despite being a non-performing company.
“The committee expressed its anger over the absence of the Federal Minister for Communications, the Secretary, and the Chairman of NHA, terming their non-participation as contempt of Parliament,” the statement read.
“The NHA’s attitude towards this committee is ridiculous. Where are the documents that were assured to be submitted on August 12?“ Senator Saifullah Abro remarked during the meeting.
Senator Zamir Hussain Ghumro warned “a contempt of Parliament notice can be issued for this behavior“.
Chairman Senator Kamil Ali Agha added:. “If the recommendations of the committee are not implemented, the matter will be referred to the Privileges Committee. The prime minister himself has taken notice, suspending nine officers — the matter is extremely serious“.
“During the briefing, NHA officials admitted that a letter was written to the company seeking its financial statements and statistics, but the contractor companies flatly refused to provide financial data.”
Senator Ghumro asked, “If NHA did not have technical and financial documents, how was the contract awarded in the first place?”
The committee further revealed that NHA was allegedly putting pressure on committee members.
“It seems that the entire institution is involved in this corruption,” said Chairman Agha, while Senator Abro warned, “If the Chairman and Secretary do not follow the committee’s recommendations, it will be considered that both are involved in corruption“.
The sub-committee also raised concerns over *alleged illegal tax exemptions granted to companies, including NXCC, working on the Gilgit–Shandur road project.
It recommended that NHA take immediate notice of these exemptions and coordinate with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for investigation.
Expressing dissatisfaction over delays, Senator Abro noted, “PPRA’s decision could not be implemented in 24 days. No action has been taken, which shows deliberate negligence“.
The committee members directed NHA to approach the Asian Development Bank (ADB) regarding footnotes restricting its authority.
“If NHA’s hands are clean, then strict action should be taken against the company. Otherwise, this committee will have no choice but to take its own decision,“ Senator Agha emphasised.
The sub-committee recommended immediate action against the company. It held both the Secretary Communications and the Chairman NHA responsible for the irregularities, while stating “big contracts are being continuously awarded to the same company, raising serious concerns of institutional complicity“.
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