China finally agrees to 'limited bidding' for projects
The government is set to introduce 'limited bidding' for projects that would be implemented with Chinese soft loans after Beijing officially gave the nod to Dhaka's proposal.
The Chinese government will decide when the limited bidding process will be applied, Finance Minister AMA Muhith told reporters yesterday after a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs, where the decision to introduce the new method was taken.
“It is likely to take effect from January next year,” he said.
Under the new system, Beijing will forward a short list of Chinese companies and Dhaka will run the limited tendering among the candidates as per the rules of Bangladesh.
However, for projects that are of special interest to both the countries, such as setting up dedicated economic zones for China, the limited tendering process will not be applied, the committee decided.
At present, Bangladesh applies the limited bidding method for projects supported by Indian soft loans; only Indian companies are allowed to participate in the bidding.
During Chinese President Xi Jinping's Dhaka visit last month, Beijing gave primary consent to 28 projects for which it will provide soft financing.
The amount of Chinese financing will be about $25 billion, according to a primary estimate by the finance ministry.
At present, there are seven projects that are at the final stage; those will be done through the existing system, which involves Beijing nominating a contractor.
In such cases, the purchase value is not competitive. Often, the price was lowered through negotiation only for it to be revised upwards later.
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