The dispute on the expensive Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) third-terminal project is likely to continue for long as the first phase of hearing on the allegations from the contractor's side has just completed.
Sources say the dispute board members completed the first phase of hearing on the claims from the Aviation Dhaka Consortium (ADC), which visited the country on January 12 and 13.
The hearing was held after making efforts for over a year and a half.
The dispute board is set to deliver its judgment on February 9, but many unsettled issues have to be resolved next.
This is because the dispute between the contractor and the government could not be solved amicably.
The contractor raised many issues of non-payment and additional costs, which the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) denied and described as illogical.
The CAAB, in contrast, raised various claims against the contractor, including contract violation.
Official sources say the three-member dispute board, formed by the International Chamber of Commerce based on an agreement from both parties, talked with ADC and CAAB officials about the claims from the contractor's side.
They also collected the related documents from both sides.
The CAAB, they said, might go for arbitration if any of the dispute board decisions was not accepted.
But if accepted, the board would start the hearing of the government-side claims, they added.
The dispute resolution process started after CAAB carried out undue work, including for the purpose of the third terminal's soft opening by the previous Awami League government.
The big dispute was centred on the development of two pier stations on both sides of the terminal building beyond the approved development project proposal (DPP).
The contractor started that on verbal directives from the high-ups at the end of the project.
The additional pier stations were proposed to increase the capacity of aircraft boarding through the bridge, which was not in the DPP and the contract.
CAAB sources say the authorities were forced to stop the work after a study carried out by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) found the quotation was three times higher than the contractor price. A source said the ADC had more or less 400 claims, but the problems intensified as it placed several times higher quotations for the extension part.
Besides, after reviewing the entire work at the end of the Tk 213.99 billion project, the project office also found many variations, such as changing the country of origin beyond the tender documents during the purchase of various expensive equipment and materials.
Talking about the possible time needed to resolve the dispute, a CAAB official said as the main procedure of forming the dispute board and the first phase of hearing on the claims from the contractor's side was completed, others might not need a long time.
But he said any big decision on accepting the verdict in favour of the contractor might need to be made by the high-ups, including the cabinet.
"For non-acceptance of the verdict on contractor's claims and vice versa, both sides may go for arbitration," he said, preferring not to be named.
The ADC - comprising Japan's Mitsubishi and Fujita, as well as South Korea's Samsung - signed a contract on August 23, 2020.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the DPP on October 24, 2017, and the revised one on December 10, 2019.
Despite the completion of work, the third terminal's soft opening was done on October 7, 2023, ahead of the 2024 elections under the Sheikh Hasina-led government.
smunima@yahoo.com
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