Islamabad: The Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs has referred to the FIA and NAB an issue concerning the release of an alleged excess mobilisation advance of around Rs5 billion by the National Highway Authority (NHA) for the CAREC Tranche-III Rajanpur-DG Khan-DI Khan project.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Saifullah Abro at Parliament House and reviewed several foreign-funded development projects, including the CAREC Tranche-III project and the 765kV Dasu-Islamabad Transmission Line Project.

The committee was informed that Rs5.199 billion for Lot-III and around Rs4.2 billion for Lot-IV had been paid to the contractor on June 23 and 24, 2026.

Officials told the committee that the contractor had received the full 10 percent mobilisation advance despite not being fully mobilised at the project site when the payment was released.

The committee observed that under the applicable provisions, 5 percent was payable upon submission of the Mobilisation Advance Guarantee, while the remaining 5 percent was to be released after full mobilisation at the site and issuance of the requisite certificate.

The committee took serious notice of the matter and unanimously decided to refer it to FIA and NAB for further investigation.

It also directed that responsibility be fixed against the officer or officers responsible for authorising the payment and that recovery of the excess mobilisation advance of approximately Rs5 billion be pursued from the contractor.

The committee also questioned the absence of Secretary Communications Ali Sher Masud and directed that he appear before the committee to provide the required briefing.