PSI firms to go after 2009
Pre-shipment inspection companies (PSI) will be in existence until the end of next year, as four companies have been reappointed for a period of one year and four months, according to a government decision.
A meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase yesterday approved a proposal for reappointment of four-PSI companies -- Bureau Veritas, SGS, OMIC and ITS -- until December 2009. The original agreement with the PSI companies will expire this month. Earlier, the NBR cancelled its agreement with another PSI firm Cotecna due to the firm's involvement in massive irregularities.
The four companies will be paid Tk 375 crore for their services, officials said.
“PSI companies will not be necessary after 2009, as the customs department is likely to achieve the required efficiency by that time,” Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam, who chaired the meeting, told reporters.
Inefficiency and corruption of the revenue officials have created opportunities for the PSI companies for doing the job that is supposed to be carried out by the customs department.
The PSI companies started their operations in Bangladesh in 2001. Over the years, one of the major responsibilities of the PSI companies has been to help the NBR develop the capacity of its customs officials.
“If we could recruit people for the post of the inspector, there would not have been the need for hiring PSI companies,” NBR Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid told The Daily Star yesterday.
A section of NBR employees filed cases, as they believed they should be absorbed as inspectors rather than recruiting new ones. As a result of the court cases filed by the employees, NBR has not been able to recruit fresh faces since 1984.
The purchase committee also approved a proposal of the works ministry for awarding a contract for developing land and roads under the proposed Uttara Residential Model Town project.
Installation of power substations in different cities under Rajshahi Division at a cost of Tk 90 crore also received a nod at the meeting. The industries ministry's proposal for importing phosphoric acid for DAP fertiliser factories at a cost of Tk 176 crore and rock sulphur at a cost of Tk 184 crore were also approved by the purchase committee.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs directed the Privatisation Commission for the re-examination of a proposal for privatisation of the state-owned Karnaphuli Rayon and Chemical Mills and Particle Board & Veneer Plant.
The meeting, however, asked the PC to take five state-owned enterprises (SoEs) off the privatisation drive by returning them to their respective ministries. These SoEs are: Chittaranjan Cotton Mills, Daulatpur Jute Mills, Service Facilities Centres, Textile Facilities Centre and Khulna Newsprint Mills.
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