A subcommittee of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has asked National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe irregular award of contract to Global Marine Services of $6.73 million in 2013 for hiring tugs for Karachi Port operations by Port Qasim Authority (PQA). The PAC subcommittee met with Senator Sherry Rehman in the chair here on Tuesday to discuss and review audit paras of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and attached departments. Federal secretary maritime affairs briefed the panel on the matters pertaining to his ministry and the attached departments.
The audit officials told the panel that during audit of the PQA of year 2013-14 it was found that award of contract to M/s Global Maritime Services by PQA amounting to $6.73 million was irregular and an example of undue favour to the contractor by the Board of Directors of the authority.
Board of Directors of Port Qasim Authority in 2013-14 awarded $6.73 million for hiring of tugs for port operations in violation of the set rules. The board members look this step just before dissolution of two days but new board members extended the contract by two days, the audit officials maintained.
The audit officials said that just before the expiry of two days of the Board of Directors of the PQA, services of the Global Maritime Services were hired for a period of two years. Briefing the panel, the secretary maritime affairs said that hiring tugs for the port operations were much critical at that time and therefore the management took the decision of hiring tugs for three months, but the secretary was unable to satisfy the panel as to why the PQA continued getting the services of the company for a period of two years without having approval from the competent authority.
The panel asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) representative to probe the matter in detail and provide the findings to the committee within a period of three months, saying it should be unearthed who got the benefit of the contract as $6.73 million is a huge amount. The secretary Ministry of Maritime Affairs informed that committee that at present all kinds of fishing activity in the maritime limits of the Pakistani waters are banned, saying that fishing will be allowed after the approval of the fishing policy.
He said that his ministry is working on to draft a comprehensive and proper deep sea fishing policy and until that time the ministry has banned every activity of deep sea fishing. The officials further said that up to 25 nautical miles commercial and large scale fishing activity is not allowed and it was allowed beyond 25 nautical miles, saying fishing in the limits of up to 25 nautical miles is the right of small and medium fishers for which licensing authority is the provincial government.
The panel also grilled the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and PQA officials over non-utilization of auction hall built in the limits of Karachi Fish harbor costing Rs 36 million to facilitate the fishers. The panel asked the officials who spent Rs 36 million on construction of auction hall to facilitate commercial fishing activity, as Karachi Fish Harbor is under Sindh government control, so why the money generated through the auction hall was not deposited in the provincial government's accounts and instead was deposited in the federal government's accounts.
The PQA chairman informed the panel that as commercial and large-scale fishing are not happening at present; therefore, the auction hall is being used for facilitating the small and medium fishers. The PQA and the Ministry of Maritime officials repeatedly requested the panel to settle the audit para but the panel refused to do so, asking them to first get verification of entire record from audit department and then come for resolution of the matter.