Communications Minister ObaidulQuader yesterday confirmed that three organisations, enlisted as pre-qualified for participating in the Padma Bridge Project’s tender, have so far bought the necessary papers to contest the tender project.
The last date for dropping tenders is September 7 while the tender box will be opened on September 9. A technical committee will decide on the constructor and adviser organisations, the minister said.
He was talking at a press briefing at the ministry yesterday.The minister said 11 other firms, who intend to work as advisers to the project have also bought the tender papers.He, however, did not mention the names of the organisations which have already bought the tender documents and took part in the pre-tender discussion.
The communications ministry had organised the briefing to updateon the steps taken to repair the dilapidated roads in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
The government on June 26, floated international tender for constructing the main frame of the Padma Bridge.
A high-level technical committee, led by Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury selected five companies as pre-qualified, and only allowed them to take part in the bid held between July 7 and September 7.
Shafiqul Islam, project director of Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project told the Dhaka Tribune, out of the five pre-qualified company Samsung C&T Corporation of Korea, China Major Bridge Engineering Co Ltd and Daelim-Bam-VCI (a joint venture entity of Korea) have already bought the tender documents.
Meanwhile, China Communication Construction Company Ltd would not be able to participate in the bid as it has been blacklistedby the World Bank.
The other organisation, Vinci-HCC, a France and India joint venture,is yet to showtheir interest to buy the documents.
ObaidulQuader also said a separate tender will be called for the river bank protection work. The cost of river bank protection work will be expensed from a separate allocation. The people of the country will see the physical work within a short time.
The minister further claimed that if the government did not wait for the World Bank’s positive response, it was possible to begin the main construction work of the Padma Bridge from last February.
