Govt moves to award Rs205 billion Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway to FWO without competitive bidding: report
The government has decided in principle to award the Rs205 billion Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway, M13, contract to the Frontier Works Organisation through a negotiated process, bypassing competitive bidding to fast-track the 117-kilometre project, Dawn reported, citing sources in the Public Private Partnership Authority (P3A).
Sources said that the National Highway Authority recommended awarding the contract to the Frontier Works Organisation, the engineering and construction arm of the Pakistan Army. The decision was taken at a meeting of the P3A Board of Directors, which was virtually presided over by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Privatisation Muhammad Ali from Turkiye.
The project is part of the Lahore-Rawalpindi Motorway corridor and is expected to reduce the Lahore-Rawalpindi distance by about 100 kilometres and cut travel time by more than an hour compared with the existing Lahore-Islamabad Motorway.
The National Highway Authority argued that the FWO had already completed two adjoining sections of the Lahore-Rawalpindi Motorway corridor and was better placed to start work quickly because of its involvement in the Lahore-Sialkot and Sialkot-Kharian motorway sections.
The authority told the P3A board that competitive bidding would take more time, while the project was required on a fast-track basis.
The sources said Section 20 of the P3A Act allows negotiated procurement instead of competitive bidding under certain circumstances.
The P3A board’s approval for a negotiated contract with the FWO will be submitted to the federal cabinet for formal endorsement and implementation.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the 117-kilometre project in the first week of April this year at an estimated cost of Rs203.32 billion.
At the time, Ecnec had directed that the project be procured through international competitive bidding.
The project cost has more than doubled from the Rs96 billion estimate approved by Ecnec in January 2022.
The increase followed the project’s upgrade from a four-lane to a six-lane motorway on the instructions of the Special Investment Facilitation Council.
The project is being developed on a build-operate-transfer basis and has a financing viability gap of more than Rs40 billion, which will be met by the federal government.
An official statement said the main agenda item before the P3A board was consideration of the NHA’s proposal for the Kharian-Rawalpindi Motorway project.
The statement described the motorway as a transport corridor expected to improve regional connectivity, mobility and economic activity.
It said the board discussed the proposal under the P3A Act, 2017, relevant procurement and approval requirements, and the need to ensure that future actions remain in the public interest, with due regard to transparency, value for money, risk allocation and legal and regulatory requirements.
The board agreed that the National Highway Authority, as the implementing agency, may process the matter through the Ministry of Communications to obtain all required federal government approvals under the P3A Act, 2017.
P3A board backs negotiated process for 117km M-13 project despite earlier Ecnec direction for international competitive bidding; federal cabinet approval to be sought
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