Red tape stalls Dhaka-Ctg highway expansion

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You are willing to pay an estimated extra Tk 3.50 billion (350 crore) and wait another year, rather than get the job done cheaper and faster.
That's how the bureaucratic machine in Bangladesh works -- with such a show of red tape that a bidding process can be scrapped for a second time on the flimsiest grounds and none of the stakeholders are able to object.
Who are the real winners in this game? Almost none-surely not Bangladesh's infrastructure-starved business climate.
And in this particular case, that of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway expansion project, the biggest losers are the public who for decades now have faced the daily death toll on this lethal road, reports bdnews24.com.
Dr Shamsul Huq, director of the Accident Research Centre at BUET said: "This is the most deadly of our highways. The largest vehicles, the containers and semi-trailers, all use this road. And hence the biggest of accidents that you hear reported almost everyday."
Of the 2000 road accident deaths recorded annually countrywide, regulators BRTA say more than a quarter occur on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway.
Dr Mazharul Islam, a researcher on road safety, says the actual figure could be five times higher.
A 198-kilometre four-lane expansion from Daudkandi to Chittagong would be ready to handle the traffic load by June 2011, if the largest road construction contract in this country's history is awarded without delay as recommended by the tender evaluation committee.
The nine top contractors who won the 10 separate components for Tk 17.50 billion actually quoted lower than the Tk 17.95 billion estimate by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) engineers.
The contractors submitted a total of 95 bids for the 10 contract components.
Their only fault after being asked by authorities was to agree to give the precious performance security in seven days instead of 28, which has now stalled the process.
It should, if anything, have speeded it up.
If a third tender is called, in nearly as many years, the price will go up by Tk 3.50 billion, if you believe the R&H estimates to be used for the project approval process.
The first tender was floated in Sept 2006, bringing six foreign and 10 local companies into the fray.
Of these, three foreign and seven local bidders were recommended by the technical committee to the ministry.
In April 2007, nearly seven months after the bidding process began, the tender was cancelled "without assigning any reason".
The project received a push from chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, who in his anniversary address to the nation on Jan 12 this year promised to fast-track the process.
In March, a second tender was called, under the same terms and conditions as in 2006.
The pre-bid meeting, before the close of the tender, brought together most of the pre-qualified contractors.
But when the tender evaluation committee sent its report to the ministry, one of the 10 bidders - National-Navana Construction Joint Venture - who submitted the highest quotes in all 10 components lodged a complaint.
The complaint was: A clause in the tender document that says the performance security should be submitted within 7 (seven) days by successful bidders after issuance of letter of acceptance is a violation of the Public Procurement Rules.
Navana Construction, officials at the ministry admit, took part in both tenders and had not raised any objection during the pre-bid meeting or as the bidding drew to a close.
The ministry at this stage sought clarification from the Central Procurement and Technical Unit or CPTU, the author of the much-vaunted PPR.
CPTU's response appeared clear-cut: "The procuring entity under clause 4 (12) of PPR can modify or add in 'tender data sheet' or 'particular condition of contract' if it is not inconsistent with the particular clause of PPR 2006 and 2008."
On July 7, however, the ministry told the R&H chief engineers that it was cancelling the bidding process, citing "inconsistency" caused by the insertion of the 7-day deadline for performance security.
The adviser in charge was away at the time, and the ministry conveniently forgot that the right to cancel lies with the approving authority, in this case the cabinet purchase committee.
The ministry sought to argue that such a clause deterred foreign bidders from taking an interest in the project.
The fact was that the Sept 2006 tender drew six foreign bidders under the same condition.
It may have been right to say that the provision for payment in local currency, rather than the 7-day deadline, probably discouraged the prospective foreign bidders from participating. It would have been difficult for them to repatriate profits from the project.
The matter eventually landed in the court of law, with the High Court asking the ministry to explain the cancellation and halting the order.
The Supreme Court, following an appeal, ordered a speedy disposal of the writ petition at the High Court.
The ministry, meanwhile, sent a summary to the cabinet committee seeking to sway the advisers so that the cancellation decision was cleared.
The July 28 meeting of the cabinet committee instead assigned two secretaries to see if the PPR was indeed flouted and if the ministry was right in ordering the cancellation.
The latest cabinet committee meeting on Sept 16 again ignored the communication ministry plea to cancel the tender and decided to seek opinion from the law ministry.
"The communications ministry cannot blame the contractors for its own mistakes," says one of the nine contractors, "if indeed it was a mistake to give seven days for performance security."
"Giving seven days instead of 28," says another, "did in no way affect the competitiveness or fairness of the bidding process.
"After all, the bottom line is price and quality. These pre-qualified contractors quoted a price lower than that which the government was willing to pay."
Infrastructure contractors are no saints; in many cases they, alongside engineers of various departments, are surely responsible for the poor quality of the country's public works.
But the mindless mandarins at the communications ministry are allowing the contractors in this case - no disrespect meant against the nine winners of the prestigious highway project - to look indeed like martyrs.