CAREC | Pakistan

IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Wednesday to oversee business-to-business agreements with Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) member countries and strengthen regional collaboration, the IT ministry said.

A couple of days after an inquiry report on alleged irregularities in awarding the Rs170 billion Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (Carec) Tranche-III project was submitted to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, National Highway Authority (NHA) Chairman Sherheryar Sultan was removed and directed to report to the Establishment Division. Member administration of NHA, Omar Saeed Chaudhri, has also been repatriated to his parent department, the Ministry of Defence. The Establishment Division issued two separate notifications regarding the removal of the NHA chairman and the repatriation of the member to the Ministry of Defence. When contacted, the NHA spokesman said no one in the NHA and the Ministry of Communication was aware of the reason behind the chairman’s sudden removal. “The chairman worked in the office today (Wednesday) till 6pm, and the decision came in the night that stunned all in the NHA,” he added. The removal of the chairman is believed to be the fall of the biggest wicket in the NHA amid the...

ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee on Monday invalidated the bids for the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Tranche-III project and called on the National Highway Authority (NHA) to cancel the bids and inform the project financier of its findings regarding the use of “forged” documents to secure all four contracts associated with the Rs170 billion project. The Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Division also called for the blacklisting of a joint venture (JV) of three firms — M/s Ningxia Communications Construction Co., Ltd NXCC, M/s Dynamic Constructors, and M/s Rustam Associates. The committee called on the NHA to write to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the project financier, within two days regarding the firms’ non-compliance and the fraudulent nature of the bids. It further recommended that the Economic Affairs Division officially notify the ADB that the bids were “technically invalid and were manipulated due to the malafide intentions of NHA officials and the contractors.” Commi...