Shehbaz demands parliamentary probe of Mohmand Dam contract award

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly (NA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Monday demanded formation of a parliamentary committee on awarding of contract for construction of Mohmand dam, ARY News reported.

“Mohmand dam holds paramount importance. However, awarding contract for the dam on a single bidding is tantamount to robbing public resources,” Shehbaz Sharif said while speaking at the National Assembly session.

Nevertheless, he admitted that, single bidding was not against the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules. “Single bidding needed to fulfill some requirements though.”

The PML-N president said land for Mohmand and Diamer Bhasha dams were allocated by the previous government.

“Land for Diamer Bhasha dam was bought for Rs100 billion, while Rs2 billion were allocated for acquisition of Mohmand dam land by the PML-N government,” he said.

Acknowledging that water reservoirs and hydel power projects were need of the hour, Shehbaz Sharif said the process of construction of Mohmand dam project was initiated several years ago.

“The process of its bidding had started in our government, but its contract was awarded by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government,” he said adding that “There is a big question mark on credibility of the contractor who has been given the dam contract.”

The opposition leader said no single government could be held accountable for all the prevailing issues. He said their government was also passed on a number of issues by the previous government. He did not want to play blame game, but if anybody did, he would respond him befittingly, he said.

The former chief minister Punjab on this occasion also thanked Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and China for their financial assistance for Pakistan.

https://arynews.tv/en/pml-n-resolution-mohmand-dam-contract-pa/