The Privatisation Commission (PC), however, expects such a submission of price offerings by today, official sources said.

The short-listed bidders are Sabrie Capital Worldwide Ltd of Oman, Bank Muscat of Oman, State Bank of India, Maa International Investment Ltd of Malaysia, JJ Finance Ltd of the UK, and a consortium comprising of Domestic Investors, Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation (Pvt) Ltd Bangladesh, National Housing Finance and Investment Ltd, and FMO Netherlands Development Finance Company.

Sources said the commission will open the technical offers of the bidders at 2pm today to start evaluating these offers for selecting the technically viable bidders.

At this stage of evaluation, the commission will assess the bidders' efficiency, management and operation system and financial viability. "If a bidder or the bidders can qualify technically, then the commission will open their financial offers for evaluation," said the commission chairman, Enam Ahmed Chowdhury.

The commission will complete the technical evaluation process within the next seven days after the expiry of the deadline.

Chowdhury also said Rupali Bank will be sold to the highest bidder among the selected buyers.

When asked about the commission's choice in case of non-receipt of expected value of the bank, he said, "Then we will invite the selected buyers to re-evaluate their original price offers."

On a query about any chance of extending the time-limit for the tender submission, Chowdhury replied in the negative. "Though, there are requests from many a quarter to do so", he added.

"I would not go beyond the deadline of August 31 to privatise the bank and I will have to complete all the process within the stipulated time," he said.

The government that owns 94 per cent of Rupali Bank's shares decided to sell 67 per cent of its shares in order to appease the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, who conditioned loans from them with reforms in the banking sector.

Total assets of the Rupali Bank as showed in December 2005 stood at $1.07 billion and it has over 493 branches across the country.