Rejoinder, our reply

Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) has issued a rejoinder against a report headlined "Consultant set to become builder" published in The Daily Star Tuesday.

It said the CCCC-Arup Ove and Partners Hong Kong Ltd got the contract of the feasibility study through a competitive international bidding in line with the Public Procurement Rules (PPR) in 2011. "They merely conducted the feasibility study which mainly focussed on the feasibility of the project and economic analysis. So far, no consultant has been appointed for the construction of the Karnaphuli tunnel."

It added that the BBA was shortly going to appoint a consulting firm for design in detail, cost estimation and supervision.

"An MoU was signed between the government of Bangladesh and the government of China in June, 2014, during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to China. The Chinese government agreed to construct the tunnel on Government-to-Government basis. As per the MoU, the Chinese government will support capable and reputable enterprises to undertake the construction of the multilane tunnel under the river Karnaphuli. Accordingly, the Chinese government nominated CCCC for implementation of the project. The nomination was communicated to BBA by the Chinese embassy in Dhaka through the Economic Relations Division. The BBA has nothing to do with the nomination process. It was absolutely an affair of the Chinese government. But before finalising the contract, the BBA has to seek approval from the government.

"Again the Public Procurement Act 2006 clearly states in section 3(2) (d) that the terms and conditions of any agreement with a foreign country/organisation shall prevail over provisions laid in the PPA. So the nomination of the CCCC by the Chinese government does not go against any provisions of the PPA.

"The news item also mentioned that a former Awami League minister's family was unofficially acting as the CCCC's agent. CCCC, in fact is a state-owned company of China. Even, no Chinese or any individual is a partner of CCCC."

OUR REPLY

On March 24, 2011, the cabinet's purchase committee approved the CCCC-Arup as the "consultant" for the feasibility study for the project. The consultant's report was approved in April 2013, which serves as the source of a host of very important decisive technical issues, including project cost and location.

As per the Public Procurement Regulation sub-clause 55(4), "If any person (company) hired to provide consulting services for the preparation or implementation of a project, then that person (company) and any of its affiliates, shall be disqualified from subsequently supplying goods, providing consulting services, performing physical services or work resulting from or directly related to the person's earlier consulting services."

This directly applies to the CCCC in the Karnaphuli tunnel project when it is being selected as the constructor.

The rejoinder referred to Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2006 section 3(2)(d), under which the terms and conditions of any agreement with a foreign country would prevail over the PPA, and the rejoinder related it to the MoU signed with China during the PM's visit in June 9, 2014; and subsequent nomination of the CCCC by the Chinese embassy.

But the MoU with Chinese government does not say anything about the CCCC. The relevant part of the MoU says, "The Chinese side will support capable and reputable enterprises to undertake the Multi Lane Road Tunnel Project..."

According to officials of the Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) of the planning ministry, there is nothing binding in the MoU with China that forces the government to accept whatever company to be nominated by China and also, the PPA 2006's provision was not applicable here.

Why the BBA would relinquish its authority and dignity in picking up the most qualified company in the project, even in a restrictive procurement process like a government-to-government deal, was not explained in the rejoinder. When The Daily Star contacted a BBA senior official yesterday on this matter, he said the BBA did not relinquish its authority as it would evaluate the CCCC's technical capability during upcoming negotiations over its commercial proposal.

In such a case, if the BBA ever disqualified the CCCC it would again have to get a new nominee from China upon wasting a lot of time.

The PPR restricts a consultant from getting construction job because of conflict of interest that may lead to low quality work, said a senior official of the CPTU.

While the rejoinder claims that no state-owned company of China had any individual partner, the fact is most Chinese and other foreign companies take help from local agencies to facilitate tendering process under unofficial arrangements as most of them do not run their offices in Dhaka.

We stand by our story.