TCB allowed to buy food items for another year
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Fazlur Rahman
The government Wednesday approved a proposal allowing state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to buy food items for another year without complying with the country's procurement laws.
The approval, which came at the cabinet committee on economic affairs, gave the TCB an extension of time, which expired on May 24, for buying essentials from local and foreign markets, particularly ahead and during Ramadan.
With the time extension, the state-run trading agency will not require to float tender under the Public Procurement Rules (PPR) until May 2011 for purchasing essential items both from domestic and overseas sources, a meeting source told the FE.
He, however, said the government agency will need to ensure transparency in the purchase deals.
The exemption will enable the TCB to go ahead with its plans to buy thousands of tonnes of sugar, edible oil, lentil and chickpeas to fight price manipulators during Ramadan.
Prices of food items such as chickpeas, sugar and edible oil shoot up for higher demand during in Ramadan month.
"We don't have enough time to invite tender to buy the essential food items. We will purchase the items as soon as possible and sell them in open market at a cheaper rate to keep prices down during Ramadan," an official of Commerce Ministry said.
"If we float tender, it will be impossible to buy the items before Ramadan. Direct purchase saves money and time," he said, adding that their aim is to buy the items quickly and intervene in the market if prices go up abnormally in Ramadan.
Critics, however, said the move will create scopes for corruption and set a "bad precedence".
This is the second time the present government has put aside the procurement laws enacted in 2006 aiming at combating graft in public procurement deals.
Officials said the government has already given nod to procure 30,000 tonnes of sugar bypassing the tendering process.
The government also plans to directly buy 20,000 tonnes of soybean oil from local refiners, 2,000 tonnes of lentil from local source and another 1,000 tonnes from external sources.
It has also plans to buy a more than a thousand tonnes of chickpeas from local and foreign markets as part of the move to build a buffer stock for food items ahead of Ramadan.
The government Wednesday approved a proposal allowing state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) to buy food items for another year without complying with the country's procurement laws.
The approval, which came at the cabinet committee on economic affairs, gave the TCB an extension of time, which expired on May 24, for buying essentials from local and foreign markets, particularly ahead and during Ramadan.
With the time extension, the state-run trading agency will not require to float tender under the Public Procurement Rules (PPR) until May 2011 for purchasing essential items both from domestic and overseas sources, a meeting source told the FE.
He, however, said the government agency will need to ensure transparency in the purchase deals.
The exemption will enable the TCB to go ahead with its plans to buy thousands of tonnes of sugar, edible oil, lentil and chickpeas to fight price manipulators during Ramadan.
Prices of food items such as chickpeas, sugar and edible oil shoot up for higher demand during in Ramadan month.
"We don't have enough time to invite tender to buy the essential food items. We will purchase the items as soon as possible and sell them in open market at a cheaper rate to keep prices down during Ramadan," an official of Commerce Ministry said.
"If we float tender, it will be impossible to buy the items before Ramadan. Direct purchase saves money and time," he said, adding that their aim is to buy the items quickly and intervene in the market if prices go up abnormally in Ramadan.
Critics, however, said the move will create scopes for corruption and set a "bad precedence".
This is the second time the present government has put aside the procurement laws enacted in 2006 aiming at combating graft in public procurement deals.
Officials said the government has already given nod to procure 30,000 tonnes of sugar bypassing the tendering process.
The government also plans to directly buy 20,000 tonnes of soybean oil from local refiners, 2,000 tonnes of lentil from local source and another 1,000 tonnes from external sources.
It has also plans to buy a more than a thousand tonnes of chickpeas from local and foreign markets as part of the move to build a buffer stock for food items ahead of Ramadan.