Abbottabad:
A legal notice has been preached to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Wildlife & National Park’s Department, which accuses the serious irregularities, favorite and legal violations in the recent tendering process of an eco-tourism project in Ayubia National Park. The message requires immediate corrective action.
Issued by lawyer Malik Saeed Akhtar on behalf of the company Titanic 2000, the legal announcement claims that the tendering process was manipulated in favor of “pre -elected, blue -eyed” bidders in collaboration with the department’s officials.
The announcement emphasizes that the department illegally deals with UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) program’s mandated Biosphere Management Committee and violated international obligations. It also accuses the Department of Duplicity Menter Ayubia Presidency project on organic reasons, while allegedly promoting a similar initiative under a non-transparent request for proposals (RFP).
With reference to “specific proof”, the message claims that technical evaluation results were arbitrarily altered after submission to favor specific bidders, violating the KPPRA Rule 47. It also expresses a strong suspicion that financial bids may be manipulated after submission and violating KPPRA rule 34.
The document outlines additional procedural violations, including: Absence of the chairman of the Budge Valuation Committee during the opening of bids, illegal delegation of decision -making authority to a single individual and marginalization of official committee members, while two officials in the Wildlife Department handled the process.
Formation of a “parallel evaluation committee” that allegedly opened bids and showed clear favorites to a bidder.
In addition, bidders allegedly received an unrealistic six-day deadline to submit environmental impact assessments (EIAs) despite legal obligations under Pakistan Environmental Protection Act, 1997, where he placed this responsibility on the project advocacy-not bidders. This claim was allegedly omitted from RFP.
There were significant delays in the evaluation process without formal communication, and the department’s actions are said to violate Khyber-Pakhwa Wildlife and Biodiversity Act, 2015, KPPRA rules and other reigning laws.
Titanic 2000 has demanded that the Divisional Forest Officer: Immediately correct all legal and procedural violations. Provide compliance with KPPRA rules 2014 and other environmental and procurement laws, the responsibility is transferred to the officially notified committee and take corrective action against officials involved in the alleged mismatch.
The company warned that non -compliance within seven days would result in litigation at the department’s risk and costs.
Concerns raised
In a related development, Sardar M Sabir, Vice-President of Biosphere Management Committee, has written to the secretary of the Forest & Wildlife Department, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s government. In a two-page letter, of which a copy is available with Express Pakinomist, he raised concerns about alleged bid manipulation, procedural violations and the committee’s exclusion from the entire process-despite its management role during the UNESCO MAB program.
Sabir stated that technical scores were changed to favor a particular bidder and alleged attempts to change financial bids after submission. He also noted that no committee members were involved in bidding evaluation, with all authority centralized in an individual. The absence of the conservator’s wildlife, the chairman of the committee, during the bidding opening was also highlighted.
He called for an impartial investigation into bidding and purchasing, immediate cancellation of the current tendering process and the inclusion of Biosphere Management Committee in all future planning and decision making.
The controversy repeats a similar uprising around the former Ayubia preservation project, which was also facing setbacks over procedural irregularities and ecological concerns. In this case, Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) rented the 110 channel soil to the monal group for commercial use, raising alerts of potential damage to the park’s organic balance.
Ayubia National Park’s status as a UNESCO-designated biosphere Reserve emphasizes the need for strict environmental protection and transparent governance to ensure that its biodiversity and ecological integrity are preserved.
