The lining project of Kalri Baghar (KB) Feeder Upper is now set for international competitive bidding (ICB) after the cancellation of national competitive bidding (NCB) by the Sindh government in the wake of irregularities in a process that irked the Sindh caretaker government. It has also decided to appoint an independent project director (PD) through a competitive process.

KB Feeder’s lining is part of the larger Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme, commonly known as K-IV. The project K-IV would ensure a dependable and sustainable supply of 650 million gallons per day (MGD) to Karachi from Keenjhar Lake.

K-IV has two phases, and Wapda is currently building Phase-I of K-IV to be completed by October this year and ensure 260 MGD to Karachi from Keenjhar in the first phase. The completion schedule is extended from March 2024 to Oct 2024 as per reports of the recent visit of the Wapda chairman.

The lining project of the 38-mile-long KB Feeder is a vital component of K-IV, for this would primarily ensure much-needed water supply for Karachi after having been approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Eenec) at the cost of close to Rs40 billion on a 50:50 basis by federal and Sindh governments in Jamshoro and Thatta districts.

The Kalri Baghar project’s bidding was tainted by irregularities, leading to an international competitive bidding process

NCB was allowed by the secretary of irrigation on Oct 16, 2023, with certain conditions after the request of Kotri Barrage Chief Engineer Haji Khan Jamali, who was the project director. The process, however, was marred by irregularities.

Sindh Law Minister Umer Soomro, being chairman of Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (SPPRA) by virtue of his post, smelt a rat in the bidding process and brought it to the notice of Secretary Irrigation Dr Niaz Abbasi on Dec 20, prompting the latter to ask Mr Jamali to stop bidding. However, it was not stopped, and bid evaluation was uploaded by the PD while deviating from the procedure.

Secretary Irrigation had to recommend that Chief Secretary Sindh issue a show-cause notice to PD in the last week of December. Embarrassingly, the notice was issued on Dec 26, 24 hours before the chief engineer was to retire from service on Dec 27, 2023.

Mr Soomro informed the secretary that the PD had not been appointed through a competitive process as per the order passed by Sindh High Court Sukkur Bench on May 11, 2023. He observed that the project was of paramount importance while the PD was set to retire on Dec 27. Furthermore, the notice inviting tender of works was split into nine groups ‘deliberately’ to circumvent ICB.

According to the law minister, the bidding procedure’s most vital aspect was that the irrigation department procuring agency never disclosed the price or quotation. But the price of each tender of lining was given in NCB, which in itself was a blunder and against the transparency of the procedure.

The project was divided into nine packages by PD, which the secretary said violated SPPRA Rules, which bar splitting of works unless mentioned in project cost-I.

The prequalification of contractors, a prerequisite for public sector projects, was not done under regulatory guidelines. The prequalification ensures that the company has the credentials, expertise and potential, both financially and technically, to execute the project.

“Cost is never mentioned in the tender for a project when bids are called. But in the lining, the project cost was disclosed, which means that contractor(s) can easily play on it,” said a senior irrigation officer. “Once a package is divided into groups, ensuring timely completion and getting along with different contractors becomes impossible. We can hardly allow bifurcation of the project after complying with rules,” he commented.

The outgoing chief engineer’s insistence was that revoking permission for NCB by the irrigation secretary would delay the project as it was approved after long efforts. He wrote to the secretary on Dec 22 that he had withdrawn permission on Dec 21 sans any reason, which would lead to court litigation and loss of exchequer. The secretary didn’t agree and sent a detailed reply to the retired chief engineer.

“Nowhere in the world is technical and financial evaluation of a project like KB feeder worth Rs40bn can be done in just six days. This was done in the lining project, which is just mindboggling. That’s why the law minister and I put their foot down to reverse the process and start it afresh,” Dr Niaz Abbasi told this writer.

Sindh regularly presses the federal government for assured water supplies of 2,400 cusecs for the provincial capital from the federal government — out of the national pool — as agreed by the latter when the Water Accord 1991 was finalised.

Sindh currently provides 1,200 cusecs of water through KB Feeder for the metropolis, which is 680 cusecs over and above the 520 cusecs as the provincial share of Sindh for its metropolitan city as agreed in the Accord. This issue is now pending with Council of Common Interests (CCI) after Sindh sent a representation.

Indus River System Authority (Irsa) spokesman Khalid Idris Rana said provincial supplies are mentioned under para-2 of Water Accord 1991, thus Sindh should provide water out of its share for Karachi. However, former Sindh irrigation secretary Zarif Iqbal Khero contested Irsa’s viewpoint, saying it misrepresented facts.

Sindh believes Irsa doesn’t distribute water among provinces as per para-2 and has rather invoked a controversial “three-tier” formula, which places the province at a great disadvantage regarding water distribution.

The then irrigation secretary Babar Effendi had proposed that till the issue is settled, the provision of additional water supply for Karachi can be met by lining Kotri Barrage’s three canals, for which National Engineering Services of Pakistan did a study of the lining of KB feeder.

A committee has been notified under the chairmanship of the Sindh government’s Planning & Development Board chairman to finalise the appointment of a PD for lining the project through a competitive process. Request for proposals are to be published in newspapers, and then the ICB will take place after 45 days of its publication.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, January 8th, 2024