CPA puts off selection of New Mooring operators

CHITTAGONG, Jul 02: The Chittagong Port Authority yesterday postponed the appointment process of terminal operators at the New Mooring Container Terminal after a court order.
The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court issued a stay order on the appointment process of berth operators for all four NMCT berths from berth number 2 to 5 of the port's biggest container terminal until July 31.
The full bench of Justice SK Sinha and three other judges issued the stay on the issue ordering the authorities to suspend finalisation of the bidding process till July 31 and said that the High Court by this time would decide on the writ.
The ruling came after a writ petition filed by Advocate Redwanul Ahmed in the High Court on June 7 last seeking order to the CPA to offer facilities to the berth operators already engaged in the cargo handling in Chittagong Port.
Zafar Alam, a director of the CPA, said they had received the court order on Tuesday and suspended the NMCT berth operator appointment process on Wednesday.
On June 25, the port authority signed a deed of award of contract with terminal operator Saif Powertec to handle containerised cargo at berth no 4 and 5 of the terminal after finalising the open tender process.
Saif Powertec submitted the quotation in joint-venture with two other private firms, each owned by Chittagong City Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin and lawmaker Akramul Karim Chowdhury.
Two other parties joined the bid, but was found ineligible in the technical evaluation, port officials said.
The port authority also invited quotation on June 10 for berths 2 and 3 of the NMCT but did not complete the technical and financial evaluation process.
Five parties have submitted quotations for the second lot of berths 2 and 3.
    pankajdastider@gmail.com