The Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Senator Saifullah Abro, reviewed progress and transparency concerns in several foreign-funded development projects, with particular attention to the Akram Wah Canal under the SWAT programme.
Officials from the Sindh Irrigation Department and the Sindh Water and Agriculture Transformation project briefed the committee on the canal rehabilitation, explaining that the project is at the World Bank prequalification stage and that discussions are ongoing regarding contractor prequalification, tendering procedures and the consultant’s scope of work.
The committee pressed for clarity on the consultant hiring process and requested the list of technically qualified and disqualified firms. The department was unable to produce satisfactory details during the meeting but assured members that required documentation will be submitted before the next sitting. The delegation emphasized that the World Bank applies its own transparency mechanisms to implementation.
The committee chairman stressed that loans taken for such projects ultimately affect the nation and therefore all contracts must be fully transparent. He directed that all relevant project documents be uploaded on the official SWAT website to enable public scrutiny and flagged the consultancy firm’s apparent failure to review the design after 20 months as a serious performance concern.
On oversight of foreign-funded initiatives, the Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division outlined the ministry’s monitoring role and the need for strict controls to ensure funds are used only for their intended purposes. Senator Syed Waqar Mehdi and other members underscored the importance of close supervision of disbursements, especially given Pakistan’s fiscal constraints.
The committee also examined ongoing projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where officials reported 52 schemes with an estimated cost of Rs 1,072.3 billion, including 23 projects funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank across sectors such as education, agriculture, roads, tourism, health and energy. The chairman called for transparent prequalification and tendering in road sector projects and asked for immediate action on earlier recommendations and a one-page brief on all ongoing schemes.
Members expressed serious concern over the delayed recovery of Rs 5 billion in the Sindh Solar Energy Project after previous acknowledgements of misappropriation. The committee directed the Economic Affairs Division to pursue recovery urgently and ensure recovered funds are deposited into the national exchequer. The EAD committed to taking up the matter with the Government of Sindh and initiating action against officials found responsible.
The meeting was attended by Senators Syed Waqar Mehdi, Haji Hidayatullah Khan, Rana Mahmood-ul-Hassan, Kamran Murtaza and Rubina Khalid, who supported stricter transparency and accountability measures for the Akram Wah Canal and related projects.
