WTP Report
ISLAMABAD: In a setback to the execution of a US$100-million grant for repairing sections of Pakistan’s N5 highway, a bidding process scandal has emerged, casting a shadow over the long-standing friendship between China and Pakistan.
The project, funded by the Chinese government, aimed to address damages caused by floods and held significant importance for both nations.
However, significant delays were experienced in the bid evaluation process. The bid opening of the aforesaid project was on December 22, 2022, but it was not until May 5, 2023, that the Pakistan National Highway Authority (NHA) released the bid evaluation report. Informed sources indicate that the delay was a result of alleged violations by the CPMC, as they intervened in the bid evaluation process, manipulating the bid evaluation report.
According to the sources, Mr. Wang Shuming, the representative of CPMC, repeatedly approached the NHA office during the bid evaluation process. He allegedly used inappropriate language, offending NHA staff members, as NHA did not score the three bidders as desired by CPMC, indicating their intent to intervene and manipulate the bid evaluation process and results thereof. In addition, offensive expressions were observed in official letters from CPMC addressed to NHA.
In letters from CPMC, some expressions were seen as offensive to NHA. In one letter, the CPMC wrote: “The Chinese side is shocked at your work attitude and your behavior of violating the Implementation Agreement. Chinese side also doubts about the ability of Pakistani side in bidding, as well as your compliance, impartiality, and integrity in the bidding process. In light of this, Chinese side expressly requests CPMC to immediately stop NHA violation of Implementation Agreement and Chinese side do not expect to see Pakistani side go further and further down the road that is contrary to the intention of the Chinese side in initiating this project.”
Under the continuous interventions by CPMC, NHA finally completed the technical bid evaluation report (TBER) on Feb. 21, 2023, spending two months, in compliance with the Implementation Agreement and Pakistan PPRA Rules and submitted to CPMC. According to the report, CSCEC ranked No. 1 with score of 97.5, Yunnan Sunny 92 and CRBC 78.
Just because NHA did not issue the TBER as per the intent of CPMC, CPMC delayed on confirmation of the TBER, subsequently impacting the project progress.
Due to non-confirmation on TBER for long time by CPMC and its threat ofcanceling this China-aid Project on behalf of the Chinese government, Pakistan NHA was forced to revise and release the TBER on NHA’s website on May 5, 2023 and further disqualified the bidder CSCEC with the highest score with the lame excuse that there is some issue with Schedule-E of CSCEC’s Technical Bid, completely violating the PPRA rule and the project Implementation Agreement between Chinese side and Pakistan side.Through a series of lobbying, threats, and delays, CPMC brutally intervened, and finally achieved the goal of manipulating the bid evaluation results.
The reason of the disqualification of the bidder with the highest score wasnon provision of Schedule-Eas per the format given in the approved bidding documents. However, the NHA bid evaluation committee had, previously, repeatedly responded and confirmed that there is no problem with CSCEC’s Schedule-E. NHA responded in one letter, “The Committee after detailed deliberation considered these deficiencies as non material deviation and considered the bidder as eligible.”
Due to the misconducts done by the CPMC, the project was delayed for the implementation. The CPMC’s behavior of maliciously manipulating the bid evaluation process for its self-interest is not only a disregard to the NHA, but also a disrespect for the local residents and Pak-China friendship, casting a shadow on this China-aid project that symbolizes the friendship between the two countries.
