The Ministry of Special Initiative said a report published by The News on Saturday titled “Rs 7 billion more for clean drinking water on PM’s verbal approval” is baseless.
It said in a press release: “The Ministry for Special Initiatives wants to make it clear that neither any approval was sought nor any approval was given by the Prime Minister. In fact, the project director was not even present during that presentation and his claim is totally baseless. The project director has also falsely accused that the prime minister was “quoted” during the Contract Award Committee meeting as having given this approval. The fact is that the prime minister was never quoted during this meeting. The meeting was chaired by the federal minister for special initiatives and attended by additional chief secretary, Balochistan; secretary local government, Punjab; member P&D, Punjab; secretary public health, Sindh; secretary Local Government, Balochistan. The minutes of the meeting also prove this fact.
“The revised PC-I of the project is yet to be prepared as per instruction of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) that had directed that revised PC-I should be put before ECNEC after tenders for Punjab had been finalised.
“It would be pertinent to note that the press release of the meeting issued by the Prime Minister’s Media Office carried by the press on May 09 said, ‘The PM, however, noted with concern that the project was initiated in haste, without proper feasibility study and due consultative process with provincial and district governments. He underscored the need for developing a sense of ownership of the programme, taking all the stakeholders on board.’ “The prime minister had issued such instructions from time to time before as well. In compliance of these directions of the prime minister, various committees comprising of senior officers from each province and concerned federal ministries were formed for pre-qualification of firms and award of tender. Since the project is to be implemented by the provinces, the Ministry of Special initiatives gave complete autonomy to these committees, particularly the provincial representatives. All decisions were taken with consensus and in case of any difference of opinion, the majority view always prevailed.”
Rauf Klasra adds: The clarification deals with the allegation of the director project and does not contradict the story. I stand by the story.
It said in a press release: “The Ministry for Special Initiatives wants to make it clear that neither any approval was sought nor any approval was given by the Prime Minister. In fact, the project director was not even present during that presentation and his claim is totally baseless. The project director has also falsely accused that the prime minister was “quoted” during the Contract Award Committee meeting as having given this approval. The fact is that the prime minister was never quoted during this meeting. The meeting was chaired by the federal minister for special initiatives and attended by additional chief secretary, Balochistan; secretary local government, Punjab; member P&D, Punjab; secretary public health, Sindh; secretary Local Government, Balochistan. The minutes of the meeting also prove this fact.
“The revised PC-I of the project is yet to be prepared as per instruction of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) that had directed that revised PC-I should be put before ECNEC after tenders for Punjab had been finalised.
“It would be pertinent to note that the press release of the meeting issued by the Prime Minister’s Media Office carried by the press on May 09 said, ‘The PM, however, noted with concern that the project was initiated in haste, without proper feasibility study and due consultative process with provincial and district governments. He underscored the need for developing a sense of ownership of the programme, taking all the stakeholders on board.’ “The prime minister had issued such instructions from time to time before as well. In compliance of these directions of the prime minister, various committees comprising of senior officers from each province and concerned federal ministries were formed for pre-qualification of firms and award of tender. Since the project is to be implemented by the provinces, the Ministry of Special initiatives gave complete autonomy to these committees, particularly the provincial representatives. All decisions were taken with consensus and in case of any difference of opinion, the majority view always prevailed.”
Rauf Klasra adds: The clarification deals with the allegation of the director project and does not contradict the story. I stand by the story.
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