LAHORE - The Lahore High Court on Thursday heard a petition regarding award of consultancy contract of Mohmand Dam project in Rs9.98 billion to a new company other than Nespak. A division bench of LHC headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi directed the National Accountability Bureau chairman to decide the matter on merit. Earlier, the petitioner told the court, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had granted the consultancy contract of the dam project to Nespak for Rs5.5 billion. However, the contract has not been awarded by Wapda to a consortium led by Nespak for Rs9.98 billion. The petitioner said that the contract awared could cause a loss of Rs3.5 billion to the national exchequer. The petitioner alleged that engineers retired from Wapda were working in Nespak thus they have been given favour in awarding contract. The petitioner submitted that an order be issued to the National Accountability Bureau for launching an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the award of the consultancy contract.