LAHORE: Officers opposing the clearance of payments to the Pak Matiari-Lahore Transmission Company (Pvt) Limited (PMLTCL) by according formal approval to the Matiari-Lahore High-Voltage Direct Current (MT HVDC) transmission line’s commercial operation date (COD) due to various discrepancies are facing immense pressure allegedly from the top management of the National Transmission & Despatch Company (NTDC) and have been asked to either take back their objections or face the music.

Mobile phone and laptop of a senior official were reportedly confiscated by NTDC officials while the official vehicles were also taken away from him at the company headquarters recently, Dawn has learnt.

“The issue seems to have turned very serious as the officers opposing payments to the PMLTCL for not rectifying the discrepancies in the civil works of the MT HVDC line – a project completed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in September last year – are facing immense pressure mounted allegedly by the management,” an official source told Dawn on Saturday. “It seems there is no one in the current regime [who wants] to listen those who are doing their jobs honestly,” the official — requesting anonymity — bemoaned.

A letter dated Nov 30, 2021 written by the then NTDC GM (HVDC) Mr Anjum Aziz and addressed to the PMLTCL CEO said the contents of Owner Engineer (OE) implementation phase report was based on during construction, well before the rectification of the punch list which were later on amended and declared cleared in all aspects during the joint inspection by the NTDC and the OE representative.

“Therefore, all the discrepancies pointed out by the OE –through letters, pertinent to civil works, tower erection, material works, stringing workmanship etc – are considered resolved and the PMLTC can proceed for the payment of as built quantities as verified by the OE in construction performas,” read the letter. Interestingly, the very same day, Mr Aziz was transferred and posted as GM/Project Delivery (North) after being replaced by Mr Safdar Ali.

On December 14, Mr Ali wrote a letter to the PMLTC CEO quoting discrepancies pointed out by the OE (NTDC’s Consultant) regarding the HVDC line’s civil works, tower material, erection works, stringing material, works etc and their non-rectification and other issues.

Mr Ali also rejected the PMLTC’s request of providing Guaranteed Performance Commitment. “Further, the company (PMLTCL) is not entitled for the payment,” the letter by written by Mr Ali read. It also mentioned the letter issued on November 30 (clearance of objections) as cancelled.

On December 17, Mr Ali wrote another letter stating that the joint inspection by the NTDC and OE representatives was not carried to date and termed all objections as outstanding. He also termed contents of the letter of November 30 as baseless and non-implementable till rectification of the discrepancies. “Thus the PMLTCL is not authorised/entitled for payments and still obliged to rectify the discrepancies,” read the letter, declaring the letter of November 30 as cancelled ab-initio. “The PMLTC is directed to attend the discrepancies on priority basis in consultation with the NTDC officers and OE,”

On December 22, the NTDC OE submitted a report to the HVDC GM, stating that the same has been compiled in line with the Nepra directions given in the tariff determination of the project as required at the CoD for actualisation of the cost of the project.

“It may be noted that the line was energised in December 2020 and any subsequent rectification by the company have neither been reported to the OE for re-inspection nor the project company intimated any scheduled/shut downs for carrying out any formal joint inspections regarding rectification of discrepancies by the company,” the OE’s letter explained.

On Jan 3, the HVDC GM informed his boss (managing director) that the project was signed between the NTDC and PMLTCL for the dispersal of 4,000MW power from Matiari to Lahore. He further said that the as per the TSA agreement, COD was to be completed after performance of 4,000MW power evacuation on Bi-Pole arrangement.

He further said that due to certain constraints, the Capability Demonstration Test (CDT) of the HVDC line could not be performed at 4,000MW as per the actual TSA agreement on Bio-Pole arrangement and was done at 2,800MW without having any addendum in the TSA. The officer also quoted the OE’s letter in which a number of problems regarding civil works were pointed out.

“Keeping in view the above, the approval of the COD cannot be accorded until fulfillment of all codal formalities as required in TSA and rectification of the discrepancies,” the letter read.

MD NTDC was not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2022