Pakistan again in row with World Bank body as Turkish firm registers claim

Islamabad [Pakistan], October 16 : Pakistan is again facing an international dispute before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over what appeared to be the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1) project. This time again the claimant against Islamabad is a Turkish construction company, reported local media.
The ICSID -- which is a part of the World Bank Group -- handles disputes between international investors.
Although details of the case initiated by Bayindir Insaat Turizm Ticaret are scarce, the International Disputes Unit (IDU) housed inside the Attorney General Office within the premises of the Supreme Court told the Pakistani English daily that it would vigorously pursue the case and safeguard the country's interest at all costs, reported Dawn.
On October 12, Ankara-registered company's claim was registered at the ICSID under the 1995 Turkey-Pakistan Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). But, details of the case are not known yet. Even the quantum of the claim which would be determined in case the decision came in favour of the claimant company is not known.
The International Dispute Unit said that details are scarce, but the ICSID website states that the case concerns a highway construction project.
Bayindir is the same company that had previously brought a claim against Pakistan under the same BIT in 2003. That case related to a contract to build a six-lane motorway between Islamabad and Peshawar (M-1), but was filed on the grounds that the Turkish investor was expelled from the project. Now Bayindir was using Jones Swanson Huddell and Daschbach and Fishman Haygood in New Orleans and Kabine Law in Istanbul, according to Dawn.