Garbage piles up in Ctg as tender game goes on
Tender for buying 2 excavators cancelled twice for 'no good reasons'
The project for purchasing two long-boom excavators to clean up the wastage from congested area of canal and drain sides has been delayed by two years due to cancellation of tenders two times "without any grounds".
The ministry of environment and forests sanctioned the project for Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) in 2009.
The CCC and the Department of Environment (DoE) called tenders for three times in this regard, rejecting both the lowest bidder companies without showing any cause in first two tenders.
Due to absence of long-boom excavators, congested areas in city cannot be cleaned properly.
Officials said the CCC has a 32-feet-long excavator, which was bought from a second hand. This excavator is not capable of cleaning the wastages in congested area of canal and drain sides because of its small size.
To solve the problem, the city corporation decided to buy two 60-feet long-boom excavators capable of cleaning one side standing from the other side.
Sources in the CCC and the DoE said earlier the environment ministry sanctioned Tk 3.97 crore from its climate fund to the CCC to buy the two new excavators.
The city corporation called tender for the first time during the tenure of former mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury in 2010. A construction company, Jubilee Trades, offered the lowest in the bid, they said.
After being elected, Mayor Manjur Alam cancelled the previous tender and handed over the project to the DoE to float tender again.
The DoE said the second tender was floated on January 23 this year, and for some faults of the traders in tender they cancelled it. At last on April 26, the DoE called for tender for the third time. Like previous two times, Jubilee Traders came as the lowest bidder in the last time also.
Jubilee Trades, in last tender, quoted the price Tk 2.88 crore whereas another construction company Crescent Traders quoted the price Tk 3.84. And the rate of M/S Shahbuddin Ahmed Company, the third one, was about Tk 3.85 lakh.
Some CCC officials on condition of anonymity alleged the CCC authorities have been showing "reluctance to give the construction work to Jubilee Trades" from the very beginning.
Sajjad Hossain, one of the owners of Jubilee Traders, told The Daily Star that "I have fallen victim to revenge as I had good relations with former mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury."
"The CCC and the DoE cancelled my bid without showing any cause although I submitted all documents each time," he said, alleging "One engineer of CCC mechanical department, who is connected with the DoE and very close to the mayor, is obstructing us to get the work."
Denying the allegations, DoE (Chittagong) Director Md Jafor Alam said, "Now technical evaluation committee has been assessing the tender" hoping to give the work order within a week.
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