CETP construction to begin after HC verdict

FE Team | Published: January 10, 2012 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Ismail Hossain
The government will begin the construction of a central effluent treatment plant (CETP) soon after the High Court (HC) gives its verdict on the case, filed by one of the "unsuccessful" bidders for the work.
The relocation of tannery units from Hazaribag to Savar -- a decision taken as far back as in 2003 for addressing the critical environmental pollution problem -- has assumed now a greater urgency than before, as the deadline for completion of its work in order to ensure uninterrupted market access of Bangladeshi leather goods and items to the developed economies, draws closer.
Bangladeshi leather goods will not have access to the markets of the developed countries, including those in the European Union (EU), if the government fails to set up the CETP by 2014.
Furthermore, the government has a legal obligation to set up the CETP as early as possible for the tannery estate as the HC had earlier ordered it to facilitate relocation of polluting tanneries from the capital's Hazaribag area to the city's suburb in Savar.
However, the latest move by the government to expedite actions on relocation of tannery factories from Hazaribag area to the tannery estate at Savar is, once again, caught up in a legal tangle.
The second lowest bidder in the tender for building CETP went to the High Court to stop the process of awarding first lowest bidder. Earlier in 2008, the same firm -- an Indian company named VA Tech WABAG -- had became the second lowest bidder for the same work and had also then filed a case against the decision of the government to award the work order in favour of the first lowest bidder which was a Singaporean company.
Later, the government cancelled the tender in 2008 and later on, went for re-tendering.
A source involved in the selection process under the latest move of the government told the FE that the offered cost of the winning Chinese firm is around Tk 460 million less than the second lowest firm. Besides, the Chinese firm -- JLEPCL-DCL -- is more competent and qualified on any technical and financial grounds than the second lowest bidder.
The latest round of legal complication appeared as VA Tech WABAG brought an allegation against the Chinese firm, JLEPCL-DCL, that it had submitted a flawed bank guarantee. It filed a case with the HC, stating that JLEPCL-DCL had sent bank guarantee for the work through SWIFT (an electronic money transfer code) in violation of the rules of the government's Central Procurement Technical Unit.
An official in the Industries Ministry, seeking anonymity, said the Indian company took the issue to the court for the second time out of, what he termed, 'jealousy', with a view to delaying the setting up of the CETP.
On December 05 last year, a purchase committee approved the ministry's proposal to award the contract to the Chinese company, JLEPCL-DCL.
JLEPCL-DCL became the lowest bidder, offering a price of Tk 4.77 billion while VA Tech WABAG came out second with its cost offer at Tk 5.23 billion.
Regarding the Indian company's claim of flawed document, a source in the ministry of industries stated in a clarification to the FE that bank guarantee through SWIFT was acceptable and also the technical committee did not place any objection to it.
Tender evaluation committee (TEC), purchase committee and other people related in the selection process did their work in a thoroughly professional way, the source said.
A member of the committee who visited China and India to see the real state of operational activities of two companies, claimed that the Chinese company is the most competent one for the work as it would make the CETP through C-Orbal process while the Indian firm would make the plant through activated sludge process.
The activated sludge process was discarded several years ago in many countries across the world, the same technical sources told the FE.
Besides, the Indian firm was reported to have chosen chemical process for waste management which is stated to be not completely environment-friendly and is also costlier than that of Chinese firm offering bio-chemical process -- an environment-friendly and cheaper one, the same sources added.
Project Director of the Tannery Estate Mahbubur Rahman said they called two firms on February 11 in 2010 for the financial offer out of 13 companies who participated in the technical tender.
The under-construction Savar Leather Industrial Park will accommodate about 155 factories. Nearly 200 acres of land in Hamyetpur has been developed for the Tk 5.45 billion project.
The tanneries now discharge thousands of litres of untreated and highly toxic liquid waste into the Buriganga River every day, posing a threat to human and animal health.