Defects in CDWA project: National Steering Committee approves new specifications

The National Steering Committee has approved changes in the specifications given in the bid-document of the project 'Clean Drinking Water for All' (CDWA), against the original plan. Now, the contractor would have to rectify the defects in the already installed plants at various sites, an official source, told Business Recorder on Wednesday.
He said the decision was made at a meeting held recently in Islamabad, which was attended by the officials of all the four provinces, federal government high-ups, members of the national steering committee and representatives of Ecnec and Nespak. He said the project has been transferred from the Industries Ministry, headed by Manzoor Wattoo, to the newly created Ministry of Special Initiatives, led by Lal Khan. Previously, the Ministry of Environment was running the project.
He said the contractor, M/s. Green Power - BIDC (Pvt) Ltd, had used substandard material (against the specifications of bid-document) in the installation of 1,005 filter plants at union council level. But, the contractor has now got the new specifications of the project approved with defects.
"The concerned engineers in all districts of Sindh province have been issued directives in writing to again detect faults after the approval of new specifications and ask the contractor to rectify them before installing other filter plants," he added. When asked about the release of funds that were withheld by the provincial government, the official said the funds would now be released on the basis of how much work has been carried out.
The Nespak, a consultant, has approved the changes in the specifications and design of the project without informing the provincial governments, which is responsible for supervising the project, he said. He said it was suggested that the control of the project should be handed over to the provinces for better implementation and maintenance of material.
Earlier, he said the contractor said that it was installing equipment according to the agreed specifications. But at the same time, he admitted that the report was accurate and that the make and model of plants were changed. Moreover, the firm also admitted that it has made a mistake by recording specifications of RO plants in Schedule-A, instead of for UF plants.
He said Nespak had summoned the firm's officials in Lahore on July 14, 2008. The officials admitted that they had installed Omexell membrane, made in USA, instead of Pentek. The reason given by the firm was that Pentek was not a membrane but a compact water filtration system, which they erroneously had recorded in the schedule, he said.
The firm also admitted that the words '120 PSI' for working pressure and 'vertical' for pumps were also erroneously recorded in the schedule, which needed rectification. In addition, the firm wanted to add KSB pumps with Grundfos, he said.