ISLAMABAD: The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) on Thursday gave the goahead to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to proceed with its procurement process to outsource cleanliness arrangements and garbage collection in Islamabad.
On Aug 25, the PPRA, while hearing a grievance filed by one of the competing joint ventures (JVs), had granted a stay order against the project. However, in its final order issued on Thursday, a three-member PPRA committee headed by Managing Director Hasnat Ahmed Qureshi and comprising DG Law Dr Muhammad Aslam Waseem and Senior Specialist Abdul Majeed gave the CDA the go-ahead to proceed.
The committee heard all stakeholders in detail and, in its findings, pointed out that no illegality was involved in the project.
‘The Procuring Agency [CDA] may proceed with the procurement process,’ read the order.
‘After this order, the CDA is now cleared to move forward to award the contract to the lowest bidder, said a CDA officer. After completing the bidding process, the CDA was all set to award contracts for both packages, urban and rural areas, last month, starting with the ruralarea contract.
However, due to the stay order, the plan was halted.
It is relevant to note that after the shortlisting process, two JVs, one comprising Atlas Pak Waste Management Company and the other comprising NJC, MMC and NCS Group/Imperial Venture, remained in the final race for the contract.
Sources said that during the technical bid evaluation process, the CDA’s committee declared Atlas Pak, a JV between a local and Turkish company, disqualified on technical grounds. Later, the company filed a grievance against the committee and was declared qualified by the CDA’s Grievance Committee.
The financial bids of both JVs were then opened, and CDA officials said the bid submitted by Turkish company Atlas Pak, at Rs17.9 billion, turned out to be the lowest, with a difference of Rs380 million compared with the other competing JV.
The latter then filed a petition with the PPRA, contesting the CDA’s Grievance Redressal Committee’s (GRC) decision to declare the said JV qualified before the opening of the financial bids.
However, the PPRA decided in favour of the CDA, terming the GRC’s decision to qualify the com-pany correct. Under the project, the CDA will outsource cleanliness arrangements in both urban and rural areas for a four-year term.
Both contracts for cleanliness and garbage collection in urban and rural areas expired in March last year. Since then, the CDA has been carrying out cleanliness work and garbage collection in urban areas through its own staff, private workers and hired machinery.
However, since February 2025, there has been no proper system in place for rural areas, where the CDA carries out secondary garbage collection occasionally. In the absence of any system, residents of rural areas have been forced to dump waste in open areas and nullahs.
‘This project is an initiative of the interior minister and CDA chairman. Initially, the Turkish company was declared disqualified because of a minor irregularity, but later it was allowed. Then, financial bids of both JVs were opened, and the bid of the Turkish company-led JV was Rs380 million less than that of the other company. The PPRA, in its order, mentioned that the CDA did the right thing,’ said a CDA official.
He added that work orders would soon be issued in favour of the Turkish company to start the project.