Chinese firm to build Padma bridge
The cabinet purchase committee today awarded the contract for the construction of the Padma bridge to a Chinese company.
The government-formed committee to evaluate tenders had aleardy recommended that the contract be handed to the lone bidder, China Major Bridge Engineering Company (CMBEC), giving a clean chit to the bidding process for the country's largest-ever infrastructure project.
The CMBEC will get the $1.55 billion (Tk 12,133 crore) job against a revised estimated cost of $1.77 billion (Tk 13,886 crore).
The Bridges Division revised the estimated cost upwards due to the three-year delay caused by the World Bank's cancellation of financing for the project.
This means the CMBEC will do the job for an amount 12.62 percent less than the revised estimated cost.
In 2009, the government had estimated the cost at $1.06 billion (Tk 8,361 crore).
The bridge project hit a snag as the WB in 2012 cancelled its $1.2 billion credit, saying it had proof of a corruption conspiracy involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and individuals.
It has sent the cabinet committee a proposal along with the evaluation report prepared by the eight-member body.
According to the Bridges Division proposal, the government will pay the Chinese company 26 percent of the cost in local currency and the rest in foreign currency.
On April 25, only one Chinese firm submitted by the deadline a financial bid for the construction of the main bridge.
Two other companies -- Samsung C&T Corp and Daelim-L&T JV -- appealed again for extending the deadline by another 10 to 11 weeks.
The committee also said the Chinese company offered a discount of around Tk 612 crore in their bid proposal which strongly indicates that they did not know they would be the only bidder.
In June last year, the government asked the four pre-qualified bidders to submit technical proposals by September 9.
On request from the bidders, the deadline for filing technical proposals was extended four times. The final date was January 9 this year.
The three companies submitted their technical proposals by the deadline.
In 2011, the WB raised allegations of corruption in the Padma bridge project and finally cancelled its financing for the project in 2012.
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