- The amount borrowed from WB exceeds the real cost of solar kits.
- Fans of solar DC distributed by modifying import documents.
- The Minister of Sindh said that relevant documents will be provided.
Serious questions have arisen concerning the alleged irregularities and the transparency of contracts related to the flagship project of the Pakistani peoples party, the Sindh Solar Energy Project (SSEP), The news reported on Sunday.
The first phase of this project, funded by the World Bank with 28 billion rupees, aimed to distribute 200,000 solar house systems. A foreign company declared the cost of each solar kit at $ 151, but the import documents revealed that the actual price was less than $ 50.
The foreign company was also supposed to import fans of Solar DC. However, instead of these, the fans manufactured in Pakistan were distributed by modifying import documents, and the rights and taxes were claimed on the basis of allegedly false import documents.
PK Press Club NewsThe “Naya Pakistan” program Anchorperson Shahzad Iqbal and executive producer Syed Hassam Ahmed Warsi brought important facts linked to the alleged irregularities of the SSEP for the first time.
Reacting to this investigation report during the series, provincial minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said there were no irregularities in the SSEP and that the relevant documents would be provided.
When asked if the low price of the solar unit registered in the commercial invoice given to customs by the company constitutes a sub-fact, Shah replied that if the undochore occurred, the private company was carried out by the private company.
Regarding the import of fans, he said that if false documents were created to show incorrect imports, the Sindh government would investigate and put the question.
The SSEP was announced by the president of the PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, during his electoral campaign, promising to provide 300 free electricity units if it was elected Prime Minister.
The Sindh government began to distribute solar systems to thousands of deserving households in Karachi and 30 districts from the province in the past year.
In the first phase of the Sindh government project, it is said that WB loans provided solar systems at around 200,000 houses. However, important questions and objections concerning transparency and delays in this 28 billion rupee project have been raised.
Following the questions raised in the Senate’s Standing Committee, chaired by Senator Saifullah Abro, an investigation into this case began, and other questions of alleged irregularities amounting to billions of rupees, the lack of transparency of contracts and the changes in documentary files emerged.
The Sindh government announced last July that it would provide solar house systems to low -income households or those using less than 100 electricity units. The objective was to provide solar systems to 200,000 households in a month.
The provincial government considers SSEP its flagship initiative. As part of this program, solar house systems are provided to households included in the Benazir income support program (BISP), which includes a solar panel, a battery, a DC fan, three LED bulbs and an installation to load mobile phones.
The authorities estimated that the total cost of a complete solar house unit, about $ 208, or around 55,000 rupees. The Sindh government has obtained funding of $ 100 million, or about 28 billion rupees, WB for this project, and says the project is monitored by WB itself.
However, questions and objections concerning the project continue to ask. This can, during a meeting of the Senate’s permanent committee on economic affairs, chaired by Senator Abro, questions were raised on the lack of transparency in the distribution of solar systems and delays in the implementation of the project.
On June 23, the Sindh Energy Department wrote to the MAHFooz Ahmed Qazi project director, asking seven SSEP officers to appear before the investigation committee, but no result of this investigation has yet been made public.
“Naya Pakistan” also contacted Qazi to find out his position, but he refrained from commenting on the record or providing his post because of his government job.
Although the questions have been raised in the Senatorial Committee concerning the delays in the implementation of the project, the role of NGOs and the distribution under BISP, the question does not only concern the delays in the project or the lack of transparency in the distribution of solar systems.
According to the revelations and documents presented during “Naya Pakistan”, the question seems to be much more serious. The Sindh government says that as part of phase 1 of this project, 200,000 solar house systems would be distributed to the public, with a unit price of $ 151.31.
If $ 56.3 in taxes are included, this amounts to around $ 208, or 55,000 rupees, per unit. A loan was taken from WB for this project, which will ultimately be reimbursed from the public pockets.
The documentary evidence available with “Naya Pakistan” indicate that the actual price of solar systems provided by the Sindh government would be much less than $ 151, which suggests that the amount borrowed from WB exceeds the real cost of solar kits.
According to documents obtained by “Naya Pakistan”, a private company cited the Sindh government a price of $ 112.44 per unit for the domestic solar system in the quote document.
Including taxes and rights, this amounts to $ 151.79, which includes a controller, a battery, an LED light, an LED cable, a PV cable, a mounting structure and a USB cable for the mobile load.
However, the commercial bill of the same company, which is available with “Naya Pakistan”, shows that the price listed for this domestic solar system is much less than $ 112.
This document indicates that on October 24, 2024, the company imported 20,808 solar house system kits, and their price was not $ 112 but only $ 23.4 per unit, which is about five times lower than the original price.
According to the registration document of the same private company, the foreign company exported 20,808 kits to a local company in Pakistan at a rate of $ 23.4 per unit.
Therefore, the question arises as to why is there a significant difference between the actual price of a solar kit imported from China and the estimated price? In this regard, “Naya Pakistan” tried to contact the foreign company to know its position, but despite repeated attempts, the foreign company did not provide an answer.
The Sindh government has also said that it provides a DC solar fan with this solar kit. However, the documents available with “Naya Pakistan” indicate that fans distributed to the public have not been imported but rather bought in Pakistan.
It is alleged that false documents have been created to show the importation of these fans, by which the Sindh government then claimed fraudulent rights and taxes.
The documents presented in the program reveal that the import of solar DC fans is mentioned in column n ° 42 of the customs sales document. According to this document, the foreign company exported 25,300 fans to its Pakistani agent at a rate of $ 23.5 per unit.
Interestingly, according to the company’s own website, distributed fans are made in Pakistan and exported from Pakistan to foreign countries. This raises the question of how an import document exists when these fans are produced in Pakistan and were not imported from China.
According to our sources, the reason for this difference is that the document is false, because there are two input invoices for the same machine number.
The machine number for imported fans is recorded as KPPI-HC-32166. However, there is another entry ticket for the same machine number, which lists the import of lithium batteries. He claims that all of this has been done to claim customs duties and government taxes, based on fraudulent import documents for DC fans.
In addition, a document from the customs compensation agency was highlighted in the program, which mentions the request for customs duties and excise for the import of solar DC fans, even if these DC solar fans have never been imported.
Based on this document, the company has claimed customs duties and taxes. Alternatively, according to the false entry note, complaints were made for around 127 million rupees on the basis of $ 18 in rights and taxes for 25,300 fans.
In addition, the Sindh government has concluded a contract with the foreign company for $ 151 per unit without rights and taxes, according to the company’s offer. Based on this contract, a loan was taken from WB.
However, according to the documents, the company which won the contract exported the solar house systems to only $ 23.4 per unit. Similarly, the import of fans was indicated at $ 23.5.
This means that the total value of the entire solar kit was less than $ 50, but the Sindh government contracted with the foreign company at the cost of $ 151, which implies that the total cost of 200,000 solar kits without rights and taxes was around 8.5 billion rupees.
If we also include nearly RS1 billion given to NGOs for the distribution of solar house systems, the total cost of the project without rights and taxes amounts to 9.5 billion rupees.
Therefore, the question arises now: why is there a significant difference between the price that the Sindh government declares and the difference of $ 100 per unit in import documents?
Based on this difference, under phase 1, a difference of $ 100 for 200,000 solar units amounts to 5.6 billion rupees. Similarly, if false rights are claimed for 200,000 fans, this represents more than 1 billion rupees.
In total, a difference of 6.5 billion rupees emerges in the project. This raises the question of why there is such a big difference between the estimated cost of the project and the actual price.
In the second phase of this project, even more irregularities and problems concerning a lack of transparency in the contract appear.
In this regard, International Transparency Pakistan (TIP) has written another letter to the Sindh Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, highlighting serious violations of the Sindh public procurement rules in the allocation of the SSEP contract, as well as complaints concerning the purchase of solar units at swollen prices.
The letter stipulates that the complaints received by TIP allege that the Sindh firm has approved a contract directly with a subsidiary of a public company, which constitutes a violation of the Sindh public procurement rules.
However, after the award of the contract, the government company unilaterally modified the agreement to include another subsidiary, despite the stipulation contract that it could not be transferred in whole or in part to anyone else.
According to the letter, it has also been revealed that the price of a unit purchased was inflated to $ 135, while its market price is $ 84 per unit. This additional cost has led to a loss of approximately $ 21 million or 6 billion rupees. The letter recommends that the CM investigation on the issue.
