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Download PDF Upgrading the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway into a four-lane road is in fresh limbo due to negligence and lack of coordination between the Ministry of Communications and Roads and Highway Department (RHD) in preparing tender documents.
Officials say conflicts between the ministry and RHD over a not-so-serious option in the tender documents have resulted in the project’s cancellation for the second time in 15 months.
They say upgrading the narrow highway is crucial not only for smooth passage of increasing number of vehicles but also to check deaths of hundreds of people in accidents every year.
The then chief engineer (CE) of RHD and the project director (PD), both transferred recently, had shortened deadline for submission of ‘performance guarantee’ to seven days instead of maximum 28 days in the tender schedule, resulting in cancellation of the tender.
Although the ministry initially didn’t take the matter into consideration it cancelled the second tender on July 7, terming the time slash a “gross violation” of the Public Procurement Regulation (PPR), 2008.
“The cancellation came as a bidder, upon being confirmed that it would not get the project, raised objection pointing to the matter,” alleged a senior ministry official.
He claimed the time cut did not violate PPR and was aimed at expediting the tender process. The PPR says submission is to be made in maximum 28 days of the issuance of letter of acceptance.
Communications Secretary Mahbubur Rahman said the tender was cancelled as it was a serious “violation” of PPR for shortening the performance guarantee submission term.
“Cancellation of the tender is regrettable since we all were trying to finalise it in a shortest possible time,” he told The Daily Star, adding initiative would soon be taken to float a fresh tender.
But some officials and pre-qualified companies smell a rat in the process and blame the ministry for hastily cancelling the tender bypassing opinions of RHD and PD, who tried to get approval of the tender in seven days.
They also questioned the authority of the ministry to cancel the tender which was vetted by the law ministry and the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
Amid a chaotic political situation, a tender for making the 190-kilometre highway (Daudkandi-Chittagong) was floated first in September 2006 after a lengthy discussion during the tenure of BNP-led coalition government.
The present caretaker government scrapped it in April 2007 for reasons still unknown. Sensing the urgency of a wider highway, they floated a fresh tender in March this year only to cancel it on July 7 on grounds of the PPR ‘violation’.
The communications secretary however skirted a question whether he would take any actions against RHD and the PD for the “violation”.
Sources in communications and RHD say the then chief engineer Ashraful Islam formally asked the ministry on March 10 to issue an invitation for tender to the pre-qualified bidders as there was no objection about the tender by any quarters.
The tender has earlier been evaluated by the tender evaluation committee. None of the 10 pre-qualified bidders raised any complaints in the pre-bidding meeting or before closing of the bid.
“There were also opinions of the communications ministry as well as the law ministry and NBR incorporated in the tender documents,” said an official, who was involved in the project.
On June 23, Communications Ministry Deputy Secretary Abul Khayer wrote to the Central Procurement and Technical Committee (CPTU) asking them for specific comments on time span of submission of performance guarantee.
In its reply on July 6, CPTU said changes and modifications can be made if it is not inconsistent with the related acts and regulations. The ministry cancelled the whole tender process the next day without referring to the CPTU comments.
Director General of CPTU Amullya Kanti Devnath told The Daily Star they did not give any specific opinions on the issue and left the matter to the ministry.
In an abrupt move, the deputy secretary issued a letter cancelling the tender and faxed it to the chief engineer in the afternoon on July 7. The hasty move raises questions about the ministry’s intension and transparency in the process.
Referring to the Public Procurement Act, 2006 and the Public Procurement Regulation, 2008, the then PD wrote to the chief engineer on July 10 saying the cabinet committee on government purchase is the lone authority to take decision on the recommendations of the evaluation committee in a development project.
The PD, who was transferred on July 10, also urged the ministry to review the decision considering importance of the project, its immediate implementation and the skyrocketing cost of construction materials. He said all the bidders quoted less than that of the government’s estimated budget for the project.
Development of the highway might be delayed by years as some of the pre-qualified bidders on Sunday filed writs with the High Court challenging the ministry’s authority to cancel the bid.
The country’s busiest highway linking the port city and the capital has become a death trap due to its narrowness and the rise in vehicles over the years.
Officials emphasised immediate expansion of the road under the project to be implemented with the Japan debt cancellation fund.
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