No LDA response to Sheranwala flyover tender

LAHORE : Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has so far failed to give any reply to the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) over objections raised by PPRA on tender of Sheranwala Gate flyover project.

The estimated cost of the flyover is over Rs4billion and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has recently inaugurated the project and named it as Data Ganj Bakhsh Flyover. Two parties took part in the tender of this mega project which included M/S Habib Construction and Sarco-Sachal JV and the project was awarded to M/S Habib construction. Sources in LDA’s engineering wing revealed that on July 5, 2021, PPRA sent a letter (L&M (PPRA)1-18(W)(1)-AB/2015/Com/P1 to LDA director general with the subject “Fraud, Illegality, Mis-Procurement and Violation of PPRA Rules in awarding of contract to M/S Habib Construction for unwanted Sheranwala Flyover.”

The letter was written by PPRA’s senior law officer who said that he was directed to refer to the subject and to enclose herewith a complaint lodged by Khawaja Javaid Aman.

“Main contentions of the complainant are that the procuring agency awarded Sheranwala Flyover contract to M/S Habib Construction in an illegal manner, the procuring agency did not upload evaluation report on the website of PPRA as per rule 37 of PPRA-2014 and the cost of construction and the place of construction are also not suitable.”

“I am, therefore, directed to obtain the report/comments in annotated form with supporting evidence of the instant procurement, if any, within ten (10) days through a special messenger (not below the rank of BS-17) as per Section 5(2)(a)(b)&(J) of the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority ACT 2009,” the senior law officer said in the letter. He said that in order to timely address the issue, kindly ensure that the requisite report should reach PPRA within the stipulated time.

The copies of this letter were also sent to the PPRA chairman, Punjab chief secretary, PPRA MD and complainant Khawaja Javaid Aman.

Sources in LDA’s engineering wing said construction work on one-kilometre long double lane flyover already started. They said the expected date of completion of the project is March 2022.

Sources said as per PPRA rule 32 read with rule 37, a procuring agency shall announce the results of bid evaluation in the form of a report giving justification for acceptance or rejection of bids at least ten days prior to the award of procurement contract. They said that evaluation report means combination of technical as well as financial evaluation.

As per PPRA’s website, rule requires uploading of a complete evaluation report where after a procuring agency after 10 days enters a contract, therefore, it is advised to follow PPRA rules and upload complete evaluation report on PPRA website instead of technical report only.

Project Director Sheranwala Gate Flyover Iqrar Hussain while talking to The News said the project will be a landmark for Lahore. He said this will reduce travel time and only 18-kanal land will be acquired for this project.

Over a question about the objections raised by PPRA, he said main objection was that LDA didn’t uploaded evaluation report of the tender on PPRA website. “This is not a mandatory act,” he said, adding a written reply will be sent to PPRA very soon.