Veracity of certificate under adjudication
ISLAMABAD: Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) on Wednesday told the Sindh High Court (SHC) that the certificate filed by M/s Akbar Associates to qualify for the second LNG terminal is a fake.
SSGC made the statement in its reply to a suit filed by Akbar Associates. In its suit, the Islamabad-based bidder claimed that the “creditworthiness certificate” of Rs 7 billion it submitted is “genuine.” SSGC, which is a defendant in the case, has told the court that the certificate has been confirmed by Burj Bank to be a fake. In case it is proved that Akbar Associates submitted a fake bank certificate the company will be disqualified and blacklisted, said Chairman Board of Investment (BoI) while talking to Business Recorder.
Akbar Associates has also claimed that SSGC has no right to get its bid documents verified at this stage and asked the court to direct SSGC to award the billion-dollar contract to it. In reply, SSGC has said PPRA and tender rules entitle it to get documents verified at any time. SSGC further says that the tender process was transparent and fair and that it and its consultants had expected every bidder to submit “verifiable and correct” information in their bid.
SSGC can seek verification of “documents submitted by any bidder notwithstanding its relevance or otherwise” at any time under PPRA and tender rules and can disqualify and blacklist a bidder who is found to have “submitted a fake document” or information that is “false and materially inaccurate or incomplete.”
SSGC has asked Akbar Associates to appear before its grievance committee on two occasions and address the issue of the fake certificate but, SSGC stated in court, Akbar Associates has failed to appear.
This correspondent made several attempts to get the viewpoint of SSGC’s officials but they expressed unwillingness to talk on record on this issue, saying the matter is sub judice.
The second LNG project is linked to five other multi-billion rupee projects being developed by the government of Punjab, SSGC and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL). These include three LNG-based power plants scheduled for completion by the end of next year, improvement of the transmission infrastructure, and the development of a pipeline of 338 kilometers to bring LNG to Punjab.
The suit of Akbar Associates also names Burj Bank, State Bank of Pakistan, and Pakistan GasPort Limited as defendants. The next court hearing is scheduled for June 16.—MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN
