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The Auditor General of Pakistan has flagged serious concerns over a PTCL project that resulted in Rs624.8 million in losses due to delays and uncollected charges. The project was carried out under the Universal Service Fund (USF) to improve telecom services in Balochistan.
The audit report highlights that PTCL signed a Service Subsidy Agreement (SSA) with USF on June 25, 2009. The company was tasked with completing the project in 16 months, but the deadline expired on October 24, 2010. Despite three deadline extensions, PTCL submitted the final milestone on January 30, 2020, which the USF Company accepted. This meant the project faced a delay of 2,929 days, or over eight years.
According to the agreement, PTCL was liable to pay liquidated damages equal to 0.5% of the subsidy amount for every week of delay. This came to Rs624.8 million, including liquidated damages and de-scoping charges. The USF Company formally directed PTCL in September 2023 to deposit the amount, but the company did not comply and instead went into litigation.
The report stresses that the failure to recover these charges reflects weak contract enforcement and poor project management. It also raises concerns about accountability in projects meant to expand telecom infrastructure.
The findings show that PTCL’s delays not only disrupted timelines but also caused major financial losses that remain unrecovered. The audit has urged strict measures to ensure timely project completion and stronger monitoring of subsidy-based initiatives.
