Open tender gets nod

Rejaul Karim Byron

Rejecting the communications ministry's proposal for considering an unsolicited tender offer, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday okayed the ministry's other recommendation for floating an open invitation for tenders for construction of a metro rail and an elevated expressway in the capital at an estimated cost of Tk 15,000 crore.

The committee however gave permission to the ministry to select pre-qualified investors through the open tender for final selections.

It also okayed the same process for selecting a contractor for constructing a second four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong national highway.

But at the same time it also made an alternative suggestion for constructing an elevated four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong expressway, instead of the second land based national highway, in a bid to avoid requisition of arable lands, meeting sources said. The ministry was asked to come up with an estimated cost of constructing the elevated national expressway, the sources added.

The committee also gave a go-ahead to the foreign ministry for conducting a seismic survey in the Bay of Bengal, and decided that the shipping ministry will prepare a preliminary project pro forma for seeking assistance from development partners for construction of a deep-sea port.

The decisions came from a committee meeting yesterday held at the Cabinet Division with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair.

Communications Minister Abul Hossain told the committee that the ministry intends to complete selecting the pre-qualified bidders for both the Dhaka expressway and metro rail projects within three months, and award the contracts within six months.

To save time during the selection process, the committee also approved waiver of some bidding procedures spelled out by the Private Infrastructure Committee, Major Terms & Conditions Committee, and Bangladesh Private Sector Infrastructure Guidelines.

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Abdul Aziz told reporters that the ministry was told to proceed for selecting pre-qualified investors following appropriate rules.

In the meeting the communications ministry placed two proposals including one for entertaining an unsolicited tender offer from Contech, a company which has no experience in doing anything close to a railway project.

The company was previously selected by the BNP-Jamaat alliance government for the same job.

The ministry in its proposal to the cabinet noticeably promoted Contech Ltd that had participated in a similar bid in 2002, but did not reach the second stage of the tender following evaluation by a government expert committee.

In 2006, through an unclear process, Contech re-submitted its proposal with additional papers, which the cabinet committee accepted as an 'unsolicited proposal'.

Additional Executive Director of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) Dr SM Salehuddin told journalists that after getting the new proposals for constructing the metro rail and the elevated expressway in Dhaka, an expert committee will review those and finalise the selections. He also said for determining the routes there will be no study, as the routes were already selected in the Strategic Transport Plan (STP) for Dhaka.

He however said the selected pre-qualified companies will conduct studies and the expert committee will review those.

The meeting sources said technical and financial proposals will be taken from the pre-qualified investors.

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain sought waiver of the guidelines regarding private investment for implementing the projects, the sources added. He said if the guidelines are followed two years will elapse before the work of the projects could be started.

The minister also said they will start the work of the projects in the next six months. He also said although it has been nine months since the present government took over, the traffic jam situation in the capital has not eased much. That is why he is emphasising on quick implementation of the projects.

The committee also permitted selection of pre-qualified investors for constructing the second four-lane highway from Dhaka via Daudkandi, Kachua, Laksam, Langolkot, Feni Bypass, Mirer Sarai, Sitakunda upto Chittagong. The length of the highway will be about 215 kilometres. It also permitted keeping open a provision for expanding the second national highway to six lanes.

According to the primary calculation of the communications ministry the estimated cost of constructing it will be Tk 21,158 crore. A study report on the highway was also prepared by a consultant firm during the tenure of the immediate past caretaker government.

The committee said it also asked the ministry to conduct a feasibility study on the estimated cost of constructing an elevated Dhaka-Chittagong expressway over the existing four-lane highway.

It said if the cost of constructing the elevated expressway turns out to be lower than the cost of constructing the land based highway, then the elevated expressway might be more viable in light of saving arable lands.

The committee also allowed the foreign ministry to start a seismic survey in the Bay of Bengal. According to the foreign ministry proposal, some 4,000 kilometres of the bay will be surveyed at a cost of about Tk 80 crore.

The cabinet secretary said determination of the country's under sea resources, and the demarcation of its maritime boundary depend on the survey.

Regarding the deep-sea port the shipping ministry sought permission to form a relevant regulatory authority. But the committee did not approve it yesterday. It rather asked the ministry to prepare a project pro forma for seeking assistance from development partners for constructing the deep-sea port. The pro forma will include a primary idea about the project and the benefits to be derived from it.