Saif gets NCT deal renewed in single bid

Pankaj Dastider | Published: July 23, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

CHITTAGONG, July 22: The Chittagong Port Authority has allowed private firm Saif Powertec to do cargo handling services at the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) for another year after its contract expired last month to run two berths.
The company got its contract renewed in a single bid to operate the berths one and two upto June 30, 2015.
Last week, the port regulator took the decision to offer the contract to Saif under Direct Procurement Method (DPM).
But the decision is likely to face resistance as the ruling party leader ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury has warned he would launch strong agitation programme to protest the contract award, which was done without open tender.
Earlier, traffic department of the CPA had recommended that the port authority extend the contract for the sake of uninterrupted cargo handling activities in the two berths of the NCT as the port authority will take more time to determine the modality of how the terminal will be operated.
As per direct procurement method, only Saif Powertec submitted its tender to the port authority.
A senior port official said while the firm had demanded an enhanced handling rate of Tk 519 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) container, it finally agreed to do the work at the previous rate of Tk 499 per TEU.
All five berths of the 1000-meter modern container terminal at the New Mooring area of the port were constructed at a cost of Tk 7.37 billion in late 2008, but they are not yet operational due to dilly-dally of the port authority and the shipping ministry over how the terminal should be operated.
The port authority has been facing strong opposition from the parliamentary standing committee for the Shipping Ministry over the port's initiative to procure handling equipment worth Tk 12.00 billion for the NCT from the port fund.
Deputy Director (Traffic) of Chittagong Port Authority Mashiur Raman Baig told this correspondent that there was no alternative but to offer the job to Saif Powertec for the sake of keeping the two berths operational.
"We cannot stop operational activities in the berths 1 and 2 of the NCT that expired on June 30, 2014. We have to continue the operation on the basis of DPM until the modality of fully operating the NCT is finalised by the Shipping Ministry and the Parliamentary Standing Committee," he said.
"Finalisation of the decision, completion of the whole tender process and selection of the operator is time-consuming and I think it will take about one year to complete the whole process," he said.
Saif Powertec has been carrying out container handling services of the Chittagong Container Terminal of the prime maritime port and two berths of New Mooring since 2007.
In his statement, Mohiuddin Chowdhury has demanded revealing the "mystery" behind the contract award to Saif Powertec under DPM method.
"The port constructed the NCT about eight years back and the beneficiary Saif Powertec was offered the container handling job on May 16, 2007 by the post 1/11 government. The private operator handled cargo in the terminal till May 9, 2011 without any tender, which is a clear violation of the laws and rules regarding the port operation," he said.
He said that the port authority has called tender quotations for operating the Chittagong Container Terminal and six general container berths and six bulk cargo handling berths twice and each time the CPA has offered the handling jobs to the lowest bidders through competition. But the PPR 2008 (Public Procurement Rules) provisions have been violated in the case of the NCT.