Contract of official residences maintenance: KP PA panel for abolition of contractor's monopoly

Standing Committee of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Administration Department has called for guaranteeing fair competition on contract awarding process in the repair and maintenance of official residences and abolition of the several-year long monopoly of a particular contractor and quality of work should be made standard in this regard.
The committee further called for evolving effective check on the standard of repair work and classification of contractors on the basis of the quality of their work and in future they should be given priority in awarding contracts on the basis of the same.
The committee has made these recommendations on a question asked by Mufti Said Janan, JUI-F MPA in the provincial assembly on March 6, 2014. The committee with Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli as chairperson also included of Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, Mohammad Idrees, Uzma Khan, Nagina Khan, Rashida Riffat and Ruqia Hina.
The committee in its meetings held on April 29, 2014 and June 2, 2015 discussed the matter and constituted a sub-committee comprising of Uzma Khan and Rashida Riffat for conducting the inspection of record. Initially the committee was required to present its report within a period of two weeks. But, later it was period of extended till May 30, 2015.
The committee checked the required record in its meetings held on May 15, February 25, May 11 and May 26, 2015. The mover Said Janan attended meetings of the sub-committee and did not come to other meetings and the committee decided the continuation of process in his absence.
The sub-committee held its first meeting in the office of Superintendent Engineer, PBMC, Communication and Works and inspected the record of repair work conducted during different periods in government colonies.
Keeping in view the huge volume of the record the sub-committee with the consent of the mover inspected the record of the repair work of House No.1A, 4, 6 and 8 in Khyber Colony conducted during the period from 2008 to 2013 and also visited the colony. Besides, the sub-committee also inspected the five-year record of Gulshan Rehman Colony and reviewed the present ongoing repair work.
Some important points also come in the notice of the committee during the process of the inspection of concerned record, regulations and procedures of maintenance and repair work and review of the procedure and standard operating procedures (SOP).
The record of repair and construction work was completely available with PBMC Department. But, under Procedure No.1 of the SOP, the C&W Department had been made bound for preserving the details of the repair work of each official residence by itself separately and will also provide its detail to the Administration Department, so the record of repair work of each residence will be maintained in the original file. But, the answer of Estate Officer, Administration Department C&W Department in this regard was in negative that no such record is provided to Administration Department.
During the audit of last five years no audit objection was made, but several complaints of the residents of official residences were brought in the notice of standing committee. Similarly, according to the record of last five years, the repairing and maintenance work contracts in Khyber Colony and Gulshan Rehman Colony were awarded to specific contractors.
The committee felt that construction work in progress in Flat No.20-B and 21-B was identical, but the amount reflected in their PC-1 was totally different. On this occasion, the residents complained that their residences need repair work since long, but on investigation it was come to know that repair work is approved in the residences of few influential employees.
The mover on the floor of the provincial assembly and during the proceedings of the standing committee have raised the point that during the year 2011-12, the amounts of Rs 22,27,000 and Rs 5,19,000 were spent on the repair work on bungalow in Race Course Gardens Dabgari Gardens. The Superintendent Engineer PBMC explained that the funds were allocated for 10 and 10 bungalows and not a single bungalow.
The sub-committee visited Khyber Colony and Gulshan Rehman Colony on May 11, 2015 and May 26, 2015 respectively and besides observations also prepared recommendations in this regard. According to recommendations, Administration Department and C&W Department are lacking durable co-ordination in connections with look after and repair of official residences, resulting in bringing the role and control of Administration Department to nominal stage as at the time of the taking possession and emptiness both departments are not maintaining record of inventory. Therefore, coordination between both departments should be made formal durable in both cases.
For the facilitation of allottees, the committee has called for simplification of the procedure of repair work, guaranteeing repair in official residences on equal basis as the record of Khyber Colony and Gulshan Rehman Colony has confirmed political and post based repair work.
According to the SOP, new rooms could not be constructed in official residences, but in violation of it rooms have been constructed in Bungalow No.6 and 8. Therefore, either no new room should be allowed or the permission should be allowed in rules.