ISLAMABAD : The Northern Power Generation Company Limited (NPGCL) has sought Power Division’s support for disposal of M/s Bismillah Metal Impex (Pvt.) Ltd petition against the disposal process of defunct and closed plants as per the directions of Prime Minister without unnecessary delays.
Sources told Newzshewz that the bid for disposal of the following old, closed and defunct plants of the Company, categorized under phase-I were opened on March 5, 2025 ;(i) Lot-1, NGPS Multan (260 MW) ;(ii) Lot-2: TPS Multan Cantt(20 MW) ;(iii) Lot-3: GTPS Faisalabad ( 246 MW) ;(iv) Lot-4 Faisalabad (132 MW) ;(v) Lot-5, GTPS Shahdara ( 85 MW).
On the bidding date (March 5, 2025), a total of eight companies participated in the bidding process. As per the scope of work defined in the consultancy agreement for the disposal of these plants, NESPAK was responsible for evaluating the received bids. Immediately after the bid opening, all bids, along with supporting documents, were handed over to NESPAK for detailed evaluation within the stipulated timeframe.
NESPAK submitted the Technical Evaluation Report on March 8, 2025, after assessing the technical bids. Out of the eight bidders, five were declared responsive, while three were deemed non- responsive.
One of the bidders, M/s Bismillah Metal Impex (Pvt.) Ltd. submitted bids 3 out of the 5 lots, however, was declared “technically non-responsive” in all lots for its refusal in its bids to comply with one of the key conditions, i.e., submission of a performance security after award of contract. After the bid evaluation report came out on March 08, 2025, Bismillah approached NPGCL through email on March 09, 2025, offering to comply with the requirement of submission of performance security, however, pursuant to Rule 31 of the PPRA Rules, 2004 (which prohibits any change in the substance of bid once a bid is opened), this offer could not be accepted by NPGCL.
M/s Bismillah challenged its disqualification before Lahore High Court, Lahore Bench in W.P. No. 15301/2025, which was disposed-off on March 13, 2025, with a direction to NPGCL to consider Bismillah’s grievance under Rule 48 of the PPRA Rules, 2004. NPGCL’s Grievance Redressal Committee (“GRC”), after giving Bismillah an opportunity of hearing, upheld the decision of its disqualification Bismillah again challenged the GRC’s decision and its disqualification in W.P. No. 16693/2025 CA before the Lahore High Court, Lahore Bench, and also sought a stay against finalization of the bidding process. The Court, however, on March 18, 2025, ordered as follows ” notice for the date. In the meanwhile, further steps in the bidding process shall be subject to the final outcome of this petition,”.
According NPGCL, since the Court did not give any stay against further steps, NPGCL opened the financial bids of the technically responsive bidders on March 18, 2025 and completed the financial evaluation of bids on March 20, 2025. As per the final evaluation, the most advantageous bids in Lots 1, 2, 3, and 5 have been identified, whereas none of the bidders was found to be technically qualified for Lot 4, which will now be re-tendered.
After NPGCL opened the financial bids, Bismillah filed a contempt petition before the Court, alleging violation of the order of March 18, 2025, and also seeking a stay against the award of contracts to the highest responsive bidders. This petition, along with the main case were heard on March 21, 2025, however, when the order came, the Judge had recused himself for hearing the case, and no further order was passed in either the main case or the contempt petition.
The matter was considered by NPGCL’s Board in a meeting held on March 25, 2025. The Board, after seeking legal advice on the order of the Court of March 18, 2025, came to the view that the Court had not stopped NPGCL from taking any further steps, however, such steps would be subject to the final outcome of the petition. The Board also considered Bismillah’s stance from all angles and in light of legal advice on Bismillah’s stance, came to the view that this stance was completely untenable under the PPRA Rules, 2004.
The Board accordingly resolved that letters of acceptance be issued to the successful bidders in each lot, with the condition that the award of contracts to the successful bidders would be subject to the final outcome of W.P. No. 16693/2025.
Under sub-section (3) of Section 183 of the Companies Act, 2017, the Board of Directors of a company is not empowered to sell or otherwise dispose of a sizeable part of a company’s assets without authorization by the shareholders in a general meeting. Accordingly, the Company hold an extraordinary general meeting (“EOGM”) of NPGCL’s shareholder on March 26, 2025 so seek the authorization to issue the letters of acceptance to the successful bidders in the subject tendering process. Subsequently, the LOA against Lot -3 has been issued.
Keeping in view the deadline given by the Prime Minister to complete this task approaching, CEO NPGCL, Muhammad Akram Sheikh has requested that the Power Division to extend its support in facilitating the timely disposal of the petition filed by M/s Bismillah Metal Impex (Pvt.) Ltd. against the disposal process adding that such support will help and ensure that the remaining activities of the process can be carried out smoothly without unnecessary delays.
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