The Water Resource Development Company (WRDC) has written a letter to Director General Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) pointing out the ambiguities surrounding the Diamir Basha Dam (DBD) project.
According to the letter the evaluation report of DBD is contrary to PPRA and Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) rules as no consultant of international repute for design review of the dam has been appointed before awarding the contract. Also the evaluated price of Rs 442 billion is about 52 percent higher than the PC-I value of Rs 290 billion. Evaluation of a single bid is also a violation of the open competitive bidding process.
DBD design needs to be reviewed internationally due to its controversial height and RCC (Roller Compacted Concrete) concept. The original height of DBD was 660ft but it was increased in 2004. Former chairman Wapda Lt-General Dr Ghulam Safdar Butt had also pointed out that Diamir Basha was a dangerous area to build a dam as geology of the area has not been fully studied
Convener WRDC Engineer Suleman Najib Khan has written another letter to the Federal Minister for Planning, Reforms & Initiatives Asad Umar, urging him to induct two top international consulting firms for the design review of DBD.
