ISLAMABAD - The Senate Standing Committee on Power has accused the Country Director of World Bank of pressurizing upper house of the parliament for closing the inquiry of the irregularities in Dasu-Mansehra transmission line project.
“World Bank country director pressured Senate to close committee inquiry on Dasu-Mansehra transmission line, and we have its proofs which will be released to media,” Senator Saifullah Abro said while chairing a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Power here yesterday.
The committee while deliberating on agenda item regarding the 765 kv double circuit transmission line from Dasu Hydro Power Station tabled the letter written by the World Bank to the Power Division.
The letter said that the World Bank confirmed that the contract was procured following the World Bank Procurement Regulations as stipulated in the legal agreement signed between the World Bank and government of Pakistan for the $700 million IBRD loan. The letter said that recommendations regarding the misprocurement and retendering of LoT-1 is incorrect. There is nothing in this letter, but there is a lot of happiness on the faces of the Power Division officials, Saifuallah Abro remarked. Power Division does not want to rectify the matter, Abro added.
The committee apprehended that it seems the Power Division has mis-communicated the objective behind obtaining the process details strictly in line with the WB guidelines and said that no such details are provided which claims that no deviation has occurred which potentially lead to misprocurement. The committee chair inquired from the Power Division to specify the inaccuracies in the Senate recommendations by the World Bank.
In the letter, the Power Division has requested the World Bank to tell that all the work was done according to the World Bank, Saifullah alleged.
“You asked for NRO from the World Bank,” Abro added. Additional Secretary Power Division said that “We only wrote to the World Bank whether the Bank’s guidelines were implemented or not?”
However, Saifullah Abro said that “our objection is that the letter should have fully informed the World Bank about the committee’s inquiry”. He further said that the “letter was written to the person, country director of the World Bank, who had pressurized us.” The Country Director of World Bank pressurized Senate of Pakistan for closing the inquiry of the irregularities in Dasu Transmission Line project, he alleged. Managing Director NTDC Rana Abdul Jabbar claimed that World Bank guidelines were fully implemented in the award of the contract.
The Chairman Committee proposed to write to the president of the World Bank on the Dasu Islamabad Transmission Line issue, however, other members of the committee disagreed with the idea.
“Don’t do this, don’t write a letter to the President of the World Bank,” committee members said.
This is not correct to write to the president of World Bank, Senator Dilawar said “We took loans from them and also ask clarification from them,” he added.
The committee sought report of the procurement committee within a fortnight for further deliberation.
