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Body formed to probe cause for cancellation of tender process Staff Correspondent The government has put the brakes on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway project, forming a high level committee to examine why the tender process for expansion into four lanes was cancelled at its final stage, a government official said. The three-member committee has been asked to look into alleged irregularities and corruption in the process and submit a report within 15 days, secretary to the communications ministry Md Mahbubur Rahman told bdnews24.com Monday.
The government has barred any re-tender process for this project within the period, the secretary said.
The committee is headed by IMED (Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Department) secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder, the other members being two joint secretaries of the ministries of communication and cabinet division.
"The tender was scrapped as it did not fulfil the condition of public procurement regulations," Rahman said.
As per the PPR, the company that wins the tender is supposed to submit the deposit money within 28 days. But in this case, the winning tender for the project was asked to deposit the money within seven days.
The communications ministry had scrapped the tender process on the excuse of its mistake, the secretary said, adding that the ministry had also transferred the project director in a short time.
The fate of the project now hangs in the balance, as the advisory committee on government purchase on July 28 did not approve a re-tender invitation proposed by the communications ministry.
Amid such complications, there is also an allegation that a number of officials of the ministry initiated the cancellation of the project at the final stage of the tender process in a bid to protect the interests of a certain quarter.
The invitation for the tender was concluded after the approval of the law ministry and the National Board of Revenue, with foreign consultants. The names of the successful companies were announced at the time.
On cancellation of the tender by the communications ministry, the companies filed a writ petition with the High Court on July 21 challenging the legality of the cancellation.
A HC bench took the petition into cognisance after an initial hearing and issued a rule nisi on the concerned people including the communications secretary, who were asked to give explanation within two weeks.
The HC also ordered a stay on the cancellation order.
The past four-party alliance government had initiated the project to expand the Dhaka-Chittagong highway into four lanes, with an estimated budget of Tk 1,750 crore.
Tenders were initially invited in 2006 for the construction work. But that tender process was also cancelled due to allegations of irregularities and corruption against the communications ministry.
The project was again approved on Jan 30, 2007, after the present caretaker government came to power.
The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC), presided over by chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, gave the approval to an estimated budget of Tk 2,168.38 crore.
Tenders were again invited and ten construction firms participated in the process, in line with previous qualifications.
Among them, nine firms were declared as winners on the basis of the lowest quotations to work in ten parts. The tender process was finalised on April 23.
But the tender was again cancelled at a stage when the winning firms were waiting for work orders.
The construction firms had accepted the conditions of the tender that stated that they would have to deposit money within seven days instead of 28 days.
The advisory committee on government purchase on July 28 refused to give the go-ahead for re-tender to the communications ministry as it was facing charges.
Finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam after that meeting told reporters that the advisory committee did not approve the proposal as a petition was filed with the High Court.
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