Rs172b ADB Road Project Scandal: Senate Panel Slams NHA for Concealing Procurement Irregularities

The Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs has accused senior officials of the Ministry of Communications and the National Highway Authority (NHA) of concealing major procurement irregularities in the ADB-financed CAREC Tranche-III (Rajanpur–D.G. Khan–D.I. Khan) road project worth Rs172 billion, calling it one of the most serious public sector blunders in recent years.

Chairing the meeting, Senator Saifullah Abro said the NHA and its procurement team “committed grave lapses with mala fide intent,” ignoring repeated directives to rectify violations. He revealed that despite the Prime Minister’s order to probe the mis-procurement within seven days, no tangible progress had been reported. The Committee directed that all correspondence with the ADB, including letters from the Prime Minister’s Office, be made public and that guilty officials be held accountable.

The controversy centers on a joint venture comprising Ningxia Communications Construction Co. Ltd., Dynamic Constructors, and Rustam Associates, which allegedly failed to submit mandatory audit reports and technical documents. The committee recalled it had previously declared these bids technically invalid, yet NHA moved forward without compliance, prompting the Prime Minister to suspend senior NHA officials.

The Committee pressed NHA to share findings with the ADB immediately instead of waiting for revised project estimates. It emphasized that delays, cost overruns, and land acquisition issues must be resolved to meet the June 2026 completion deadline.

In a related development, the committee also sought an explanation from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) over the sale of National Bank of Pakistan’s (NBP) 45 percent shareholding in United National Bank Limited UK (UNBL UK) to United Bank Limited (UBL) for £22 million. Senator Abro questioned how the SBP had issued a no-objection certificate and whether due process was followed, calling the transaction “non-transparent and questionable.” The SBP was directed to furnish complete details in the next session.

The committee also reviewed Pakistan’s growing dependence on foreign borrowing, with Senator Abro remarking that the country had “made borrowing a custom rather than an economic need.” He directed the Finance Division and SBP to submit a detailed breakdown of loans, repayments, and interest payments since 2008 to ensure transparency.

The Committee vowed continued oversight of all foreign-funded projects, asserting that international loans “belong to the people of Pakistan and must serve them, not those who manipulate the system.”