E-tender to contain tender terrorism
Friday, 23 November 2007
Sagar Shabnam
Sabekun Nahar Sony, a meritorious student of Chemical Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was excited as she was going to finish her studies to become an engineer, a dream she cherished since her childhood, But that was not to be. One day a shootout on the campus between two student groups took away her life.
Sony did not belong to any group. She was just on her way to attend a class on June 8, 2002. Two factions of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal were then exchanging fire over submitting tender documents for a development work. Sony was caught in the crossfire and struck by a bullet. She died on the spot.
Sony was not the only victim of tender terrorism. There are many instances of murders of contractors by their rivals after having failed to win tender bidding.
Imam Hossain Sohel was a contractor residing at Pikepara area of Mirpur. He had worked in South Korea for a long time and made some money. Sohel started a business with his hard-earned money and that made him pay dearly.
Sohel had a row with a terrorist group over a construction work involving one million taka. Sohel managed to get the job with the influence he had as president of Mirpur Chhatra Dal and earned the enmity of the terrorist group. On June 22, 2003 they gunned Sohel down in retaliation.
Many people fall victims to violence when they come to collect or submit tender papers. Reports of murders over tender rivalries are common these days. However, there is no exact statistics as to how many contractors have died so far. Top terror David, killed in crossfire with RAB, was also a first class contractor.
Nowadays, tender has become synonymous with looting of public funds, particularly in government organizations like Local Government Department, Health and Education Departments. And, this is being done with the help of a section of dishonest officials. The law cannot reach the tender-terrorists because they maintain high level connections.
Corruption and irregularities involving tenders have taken such a proportion that works are distributed among the vested quarters even before invitation of bids. A section of contractors recently distributed works among themselves before the submission work orders for the development works for 120 primary schools in Rajshahi. Some LGED engineers and employees were reportedly involved in it.
Corruption and violence in tendering process also keep the foreign investors discourage foreign investors. A couple of years ago, a Malaysian company withdrew its name from the tendering process of a 450-megawatt power plant in Sirajganj for irregularities.
To address the problem, experts suggest introduction of online tendering system. They said there should be a specific website through which one will be able to know the status of his application.
Government offices in Bangladesh are still run under the colonial system although e-governance has been introduced in many countries of the world. The system has proved to be safer as it is done through computers. If the system is introduced, corruption will be reduced significantly.
In Bangladesh, the process of inviting tenders is full of discrepancy. There is no coordinated process in inviting tenders.
Authorities concerned feel that to prevent tender terrorism, information technology, especially online tendering, is very important. And the government itself is contemplating receiving tenders online as it faces questions from donors about transparency in its activities.
Basic changes can be brought about in governance through using the information technology or e-governance. Mostafa Jabbar, an IT expert, says, "Now there are computers in 90 per cent government offices, but those are mainly used as typewriters. There could be a significant qualitative change in government activities if the computers could be used for e-governance. E-governance will undoubtedly make things easier for the government."
If the tender process is done online, both the government and people will be benefited, as it will help prevent corruption in inviting tenders. It will also help manage things more skillfully without wasting time.
Executive director of Computer Council AM Chowdhury says, "When an office adopts e-governance, all of its files will be in the computer server instead of file cabinets. With the introduction of online system the tendering process will become less expensive and less time-consuming. To make this happen, an environment has to be ensured to work through the Internet in addition to formulating an IT law."
According sources at the Law Ministry, the draft of the proposed IT law has been prepared and there is still a long way to go before it is enacted since there is no elected parliament in the country right now.
There is another problem. Many contractors are not used to working online. Harun Mollah, a contractor, says, "Throughout my life, I have put my signature on papers. How could I work on computer now?" Hanin Mollah is not alone. There are many who are not familiar with computers.
A Communications Ministry official, who prefers not to be named, says inviting tender online could be an effective way to prevent tender terrorism and avert bureaucratic hassles.
Engineers, technologists and contractors are of the opinion that e-tender is safer for all. Once introduced, e-tender will help any bidder submit his tender documents through his personal computer. And, for this it is necessary to bring government offices under the networking of the Internet.
........................
News Network
Sabekun Nahar Sony, a meritorious student of Chemical Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was excited as she was going to finish her studies to become an engineer, a dream she cherished since her childhood, But that was not to be. One day a shootout on the campus between two student groups took away her life.
Sony did not belong to any group. She was just on her way to attend a class on June 8, 2002. Two factions of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal were then exchanging fire over submitting tender documents for a development work. Sony was caught in the crossfire and struck by a bullet. She died on the spot.
Sony was not the only victim of tender terrorism. There are many instances of murders of contractors by their rivals after having failed to win tender bidding.
Imam Hossain Sohel was a contractor residing at Pikepara area of Mirpur. He had worked in South Korea for a long time and made some money. Sohel started a business with his hard-earned money and that made him pay dearly.
Sohel had a row with a terrorist group over a construction work involving one million taka. Sohel managed to get the job with the influence he had as president of Mirpur Chhatra Dal and earned the enmity of the terrorist group. On June 22, 2003 they gunned Sohel down in retaliation.
Many people fall victims to violence when they come to collect or submit tender papers. Reports of murders over tender rivalries are common these days. However, there is no exact statistics as to how many contractors have died so far. Top terror David, killed in crossfire with RAB, was also a first class contractor.
Nowadays, tender has become synonymous with looting of public funds, particularly in government organizations like Local Government Department, Health and Education Departments. And, this is being done with the help of a section of dishonest officials. The law cannot reach the tender-terrorists because they maintain high level connections.
Corruption and irregularities involving tenders have taken such a proportion that works are distributed among the vested quarters even before invitation of bids. A section of contractors recently distributed works among themselves before the submission work orders for the development works for 120 primary schools in Rajshahi. Some LGED engineers and employees were reportedly involved in it.
Corruption and violence in tendering process also keep the foreign investors discourage foreign investors. A couple of years ago, a Malaysian company withdrew its name from the tendering process of a 450-megawatt power plant in Sirajganj for irregularities.
To address the problem, experts suggest introduction of online tendering system. They said there should be a specific website through which one will be able to know the status of his application.
Government offices in Bangladesh are still run under the colonial system although e-governance has been introduced in many countries of the world. The system has proved to be safer as it is done through computers. If the system is introduced, corruption will be reduced significantly.
In Bangladesh, the process of inviting tenders is full of discrepancy. There is no coordinated process in inviting tenders.
Authorities concerned feel that to prevent tender terrorism, information technology, especially online tendering, is very important. And the government itself is contemplating receiving tenders online as it faces questions from donors about transparency in its activities.
Basic changes can be brought about in governance through using the information technology or e-governance. Mostafa Jabbar, an IT expert, says, "Now there are computers in 90 per cent government offices, but those are mainly used as typewriters. There could be a significant qualitative change in government activities if the computers could be used for e-governance. E-governance will undoubtedly make things easier for the government."
If the tender process is done online, both the government and people will be benefited, as it will help prevent corruption in inviting tenders. It will also help manage things more skillfully without wasting time.
Executive director of Computer Council AM Chowdhury says, "When an office adopts e-governance, all of its files will be in the computer server instead of file cabinets. With the introduction of online system the tendering process will become less expensive and less time-consuming. To make this happen, an environment has to be ensured to work through the Internet in addition to formulating an IT law."
According sources at the Law Ministry, the draft of the proposed IT law has been prepared and there is still a long way to go before it is enacted since there is no elected parliament in the country right now.
There is another problem. Many contractors are not used to working online. Harun Mollah, a contractor, says, "Throughout my life, I have put my signature on papers. How could I work on computer now?" Hanin Mollah is not alone. There are many who are not familiar with computers.
A Communications Ministry official, who prefers not to be named, says inviting tender online could be an effective way to prevent tender terrorism and avert bureaucratic hassles.
Engineers, technologists and contractors are of the opinion that e-tender is safer for all. Once introduced, e-tender will help any bidder submit his tender documents through his personal computer. And, for this it is necessary to bring government offices under the networking of the Internet.
........................
News Network