The 400th meeting of the Executive Board of National Highway Authority was held today under the chairmanship of Chairman NHA Capt (retd) Muhammad Khurram Agha at NHA HQ. The Board, as per vision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif approved a number of measures pertaining to the procurement process to award contracts to construction companies which are technically sound. These measures are aimed to ensure proper eligibility of contractors for construction, extension and repair of motorways and National Highways. According to the details, NHA will pre-qualify the contractors on the basis of projects and work in light of PPRA rules and regulations. Moreover, the changes have also been made in technical expertise and financial capability during pre-qualification. As per existing prequalification procedure, the ratio of technical expertise and financial capability was determined as 70% and 30% respectively. While under the new arrangement, this ratio will be determined as 80% and 20% respectively. The contractors are now required to provide bank guarantees instead of insurance guarantees. Further, Physical inspection of machinery, equipment and technical staff availability will be conducted during the pre-qualification process. These measures will help to implement construction activities of the projects more effectively. In addition to that, a third party ground validation of works will also be ensured. The Board unanimously supported these measures in order to eradicate delays and ensure timely completion and quality construction of motorway and national highway projects in the country. All these steps will be implemented immediately as per the decision of the Executive Board. The meeting was attended by Inspector General National Highways and Motorways Police Khalid Mahmood, Chief NTRC Hameed Akhtar, Additional Secretary Finance Division and Planning Division, Vice President NESPAK and senior officers of the Ministry of Communications and National Highway Authority.
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