Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information and Public Relations Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif on Thursday denied allegations regarding provincial government’s influence in awarding contract for the construction of a four star hotel in Nathiagali. He said the process of awarding contract was done with full transparency and open competition as per the auction policy of GDA. He said the establishment of a four-star or above category hotel project was placed before the Board of Authority (BoA) of GDA in its meeting held on 15-06-2019 and was approved by the BoA for outsourcing to a renowned firm on 99-year lease period. This was done considering the need for a four-star or above category hotel in the region to cater for the international visitors and to fully utilize the tourism potential of the area. He added that a private financial consultant was hired to develop a feasible financial model for the outsourcing of the land. Barrister Saif said on 24th January 2020, the project was advertised in all leading national dailies inviting expression of interest (EOI) from potential investors. The detail pre-qualification documents were uploaded on GDA website. On 20th February 2020 a pre EOI bid meeting was held on 20/2/2020 to address any queries of interested bidders. Special Assistant said on 2nd March 2020 it was declared that Eight (8) firms applied for the said project. Out of these 8 firms, four (4) firms were pre-qualified, for the next stage i.e. issuance of Request for Proposals (RFP), as per the criteria laid down in the pre-qualification documents and on 26th November 2020 RFP document for Technical bids issued to Four (4) pre-qualified firms. A pre-RFP/technical bid meeting was held on 8 February 2021 to address the queries and concerns of the qualified firms. Technical Bids were received from the pre-qualified firms and this process was completed on 26 march.