LWMC spends over Rs3b on vehicles repair in 10 years

LAHORE :In a sheer violation of designated authority’s approved limit, senior management of Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has spent over Rs3.2 billion on repair and maintenance of the fleet of operational/ staff vehicles since 2011-12 until December, 2019.

Sources said since its inception, around a fleet of 379 operational vehicles was transferred to the company from Solid Waste Management (SWM) department of MCL. The workshop was handed over to the company to carry out repair and maintenance of operational/staff vehicles as well as containers, which were kept at different places of the provincial metropolis. Sources said, since 2011-2012 no approval of any financial transaction/expenses incurred on the repair and maintenance of vehicles at the workshop was sought from the Board of Directors (BoD) of the company and then Managing Directors used their authority in sanctioning the workshop’s budget.

Sources added that as per company’s rules and regulations, the approval limit of Managing Director is from Rs0.5 million to Rs5 million, General Manager/CFO’s limit is up to Rs0.5 million, LWMC’s procurement committee’s financial spending limit is from Rs5 million to Rs20 million and finally the BOD’s financial spending powers are above Rs20 million.

A fresh report of Company’s Internal Auditor dated February 10, 2020 revealed that in 2011-2012, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs380,039,320 on the repair and maintenance which included expenses of Rs365,506,164 on operational vehicles, Rs743,715 on staff vehicles and Rs13,789,441 on containers. In 2012-2013, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs404,699,491 on the repair and maintenance which included expenses of Rs403,661,580 on operational vehicles and Rs1,037,911 on staff vehicles. In 2013-2014, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs308,427,651 on the repair and maintenance which included expenses of Rs305,476,755 on operational vehicles and Rs2,950,896 on staff vehicles.

The report revealed that in 2014-2015, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs296,207,004 on the repair and maintenance which included expenses of Rs287,716,100 on operational vehicles, Rs5,092,694 on staff vehicles and Rs3,398,210 on containers. In 2015-2016, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs345,960,646 on the repair and maintenance which included expenses of Rs328,482,659 on operational vehicles, Rs15.068,350 on staff vehicles and Rs2,409,646 on containers. In 2016-2017, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs404,083,330 on the repair and maintenance which included expenses of Rs374,337,071 on operational vehicles, Rs26,327,582 on staff vehicles and Rs3,418,677 on containers.

In 2017-2018, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs452,267,494 on the repair and maintenance which included expenses of Rs428,989.378 on operational vehicles, Rs22,823,811 on staff vehicles and Rs545,305 on containers, the report said adding that in 2018-2019, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs411,162,068 on the repair and maintenance which included expenses of Rs395,137,013 on operational vehicles, Rs15,433,919 on staff vehicles and Rs591,136 on containers and in 2019, LWMC’s workshop spent Rs240,030,176 on the repair and maintenance on operational vehicles, staff vehicles and containers. LWMC’s Internal Auditor, in his finding, stated that the procurements were approved by then Managing Directors, which is beyond the approval authority and construed all as mis-procurements. He stated that during the review of pre-qualification documents it was found that estimated cost of the yearly work was not provided in PQD to enable the bidders to know the volume of work, which will help the potential sizeable bidders to quote competitive bids. He also found that calendar year was adopted as procurement period instead should be financial year in line with the company’s financial period.

Chairman LWMC Riaz Hameed while talking with The News said that this was a big scam and must be probed. He said he will take up the report of Internal Auditor in the upcoming board meeting so that the board should make a decision. Chairman LWMC said that steps taken by him have resulted in a saving of millions of rupees. He said he has adopted zero-tolerance towards corruption and all culprits involved in any kind of corruption in LWMC would soon meet their fate.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister has authorised Chief Minister Inspection Team to start a regular inquiry into the scam of making unauthorised payments to the labour providing contractor. This scam was also unearthed by LWMC chairman recently. He said he had scheduled a meeting with CMIT chairman over this issue in coming days.