Contactors, who laid a siege to the Maulvibazar gas field operated by the US-based oil and gas company Chevron for seven days, withdrew their blockade after they were assured of a meeting with the company.
The officials of the gas company, contractors and Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Sreemangal Upazila in Maulvibazar Ashfakul Haque Chowdhury had a meeting in the gas field Wednesday to settle the disputes.
The contractors started the demonstration programme on July 18 demanding contract without tender on the basis of ‘negotiation’.
“We postponed our demonstration as we got assurance from the UNO that we could have a meeting with the Chevron authorities to meet our demand within a week,” proprietor of Kalapur Enterprise Mojibur Rahman, one of the contractors, said Wednesday.
“I went to the gas field and I also assured the contractors that the Chevron authorities would sit with them in the next one week,” UNO Ashfakul Haque said.
External Affairs Director of the Chevron Bangladesh Naser Ahmed said: “We thanked the UNO for the settlement.”
“We always look forward to working with local business groups in a fair and transparent manner following chevron’s procurement process.” he said.
The company will sit with the vendors on August 1 to sort out the disputes, he added.
The vendors have blockaded the approach road to the Maulvibazar gas field as a way of demanding exclusive rights to contracts, as opposed to an open bidding process.
Under such circumstances, the Chevron sought the support of the government to continue uninterrupted operations of the Maulvibazar gas field.
According to sources, there are 22 enlisted vendors in the Maulvibazar gas field area. Chevron awards any contracting work via an open, competitive bidding process.
But a splinter group of five vendors have been pressurizing local Chevron staff to distribute all contracting work exclusively amongst them, instead of allowing all 22 to participate in the bidding.
