Contractors want probe against CIADP chief

CHITRAL, April 15: The president of All Contractors Association, Chitral, Noor Ahmed Khan, has demanded an inquiry against the managing director of the Chitral Integrated Area Development Program (CIADP) for allegedly violating the terms of conditions of the programme. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, he said the managing director had invited tenders from the registered contractors for the construction of additional rooms in different schools but instead of awarding the contract he was bent upon doing the work with the help of local organizations. He alleged that the basic motive behind the move was to purchase the construction material and thereby earn profit from it which was totally an illegal practice and sheer violation of the working codes of the program. He said that dozens of contractors had submitted their bids for the work and the lowest bid was declared as the successful bidder but the tenders were later on cancelled due to the reasons known only to the managing director. Mr. Khan said that the Norwegian ambassador to Pakistan, secretary of Economic Affairs Division and chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should take a stern notice of the anomaly to save the funds from being spoiled. He said that the local community has no expertise to carry out the work as per desired standard and specification and the large sum of about Rs 50 million meant for the construction will go waste. He said that the direct purchase of construction material by the managing director to be supplied to the community was nowhere allowed in the terms of reference of the program while the rule warranted that the open tenders should be called to award the contract to qualified contractors. Mr. Khan added that the contractors were registered with the communication and works department and possessed competency certificate from Pakistan Engineering Council and were fully qualified to be awarded the contract of the work. He questioned the managing director that if the contract of the work was not to be given to the contractors, then why tenders were floated in press due to which the local contractors traveled to Islamabad and spent thousands of rupees. When the program coordinator of CIADP, Asfandiar Khan, was contacted to know his version, he said the tenders were cancelled on the ground of discrepancy in the tender documents. He said that the organization tired its level best to carry out the construction work as per given specification and standard accepting no compromise. He could not deny that the execution of the works by the local organizations instead of registered contractors and said that a decision is being taken shortly.–Zahiruddin]]>