Chipursan Hydro Project: Inquiry or Audit?
By Sajjad Haider
According to the news item (image below) the Secretary W&P Department, Government of GB has ordered an inquiry into allegations of corruption, mismanagement and malpractices, resulting in cost overrun of 150 million Pak Rupees and significant delay in the completion of 1 MW ChipursanHPP.
This is not a one-off project suffering from cost overrun and delays but almost all the infrastructure projects including hydro projects are known to end with similar fate. Publicly casting allegations of corruption and resorting to inquiry will unnerve and instill insecurity in the officials of the department and generally not considered a good practice. Instead, an external full spectrum, end to end audit of project life cycle should be conducted without reference to corruption. Also, inquiry into the alleged corruption by a peer official from the same department, as suggested by the news item will be perceived as a farce exercise to camouflage the underlying shortcomings or any corrupt practice, if any.
The Chief Minister and/or Chief Secretary are requested to commission, in public interest, a full spectrum, end to end, project lifecycle audit executed by competent third-party professionals, such as the Pakistan Engineering Council, WAPDA, or NESPAK, based on the following guidelines:
- Prefeasibility Study
Data collected/ surveyed on topography, hydrology, geology and constraints/barriers faced during reconnaissance survey of the project area to assess the technical feasibility of the project.
- Feasibility Report/Detailed Project Report
Detailed Surveys and investigation of the project area to assess the technical feasibility, financial viability and that maximum head is utilized. A number of existing HPP like Mayun HPP and Sumayer HPP have not utilized available head which is an injustice to a natural blessing. Utilization of higher heads will not only produce proportionally more power but employ Pelton turbines which offer significant advantages – simple construction, easy to maintain, no draft tube, no cavitation and above all it can work on low discharge.
- Alignment with power supply plan /program (if any) for Hunza
- Mode of Project Execution
LSTK, Design by employer and procurement and execution by contractor(s) or any other scheme
- Bidding Documents
Thorough and detailed review and evaluation of bidding documents for Civil Works – Diversion Weir, Intake, Water Channel, Forebay, Sedimentation Tanks, Surge Tanks, Powerhouse, Tail Race, Penstock Pipe and assess completeness, correctness with respect to specifications, design guidelines and application requirements and that competition, fairness, transparency and proportionality are ensured.
Thorough and detailed review of bidding documents for E&M Works – Turbine, Generator, Governing System, Measurement and Protective Devices, Switchgear ,Power Evacuation, Synchronization System and assess completeness, correctness and that the bidding documents ensure competition, fairness, transparency and proportionality.
- Thorough and detailed review of Prequalification Criteria and assess for effectiveness and adequacy.
- Thorough and detailed review of Bid(s) Evaluation report to assess if the prequalified contractors and suppliers complied substantially with the prequalification criteria.
- Detailed and thorough review and evaluation of submitted bids and technical proposal from the selected contractors and assess substantial compliance with bidding documents.
- Detailed and thorough review and evaluation of Contract agreements with contract awardees – civil works and E&M Works for completeness, correctness and effectiveness to ensure successful completion of the project and establish rights and obligations of contractor(s) and employer.
- Detailed and thorough review of Baseline Project Schedule for the project from NTP/Work Order to the project close out and assess if all the activities, timeline for each activity and relationship(s) between activities are correct and reasonable.
- Detailed and thorough review of Individual project Schedule(s) submitted by contractors for Civil and E &M contractors and assess compliance with master baseline project schedule and vice versa.
- Detailed and thorough review and evaluation of construction drawings (IFC’s-Issued for Construction) and calculation sheets for civil structures – diversion weir, water channel, forebay, powerhouse, tail race etc. and calculation sheet for turbine and generator selection and their drawings and assess if they comply with the specifications, standards and requirements stipulated in the contract agreement.
- Assessment of actual contractor’s capacity – human resources, equipment and machinery and financial against prequalification criteria
- Assess communication protocol between employer, contractor and consultant (if any).
- Detailed and thorough review of As Built Project Schedule for all completed activities and interact with employer engineer(s), contractor engineer(s) and find out reasons for deviations against baseline schedule.
- Site Visit to inspect, measure and assess actual construction against contract agreement documents and design drawings – diversion weir, water channel, forebay, penstock pipeline, powerhouse and tail race etc.
- Review of inspection and testing documents
Penstock Piping : Confirm that MOC of penstock pipe complies with specification in the contract agreement. Hydrostatic testing, NDT ( UT, MT, DPT) and welding Inspection in accordance with AWS D1.1 or equivalent.
Inspection and FAT certificates of the turbine, generator and associated equipment
- Verify eligibility of each payment certificate against actual works, services or supply and the terms and conditions of the contract agreement.
- Review change order requests submitted by contractors and evaluate the approved ones if they are genuinely justified.
- Review of Project Record Book – technical queries submitted by contractor and employer replies, shop drawings of civil and hydraulic structures, Request for Inspection etc.
- Assess the relationship between employer engineers and contractor for collusion, overlap and conflict of interest by reviewing project record books, written communication / technical queries, change order and interviews.
The findings for each audit item as listed above will unearth any malpractice, shortcoming, incompetency, irregularity, corruption or non-standard practice and help develop better project management procedures, documentation and oversight mechanisms for future infrastructure projects.
The writer is an “Engineering and Project Management Professional” from Ganish Village of Hunza.
