Govt completes negotiation with lowest bidder

The state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) has completed the 'negotiation' process with Sumitomo Corporation, the lowest competitive bidder for the construction of Matarbari 1200- MW ultra- supercritical power project at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar.
"We completed the negotiation. We sent our recommendations to JICA two weeks back, a senior official of the Power Division told the Daily Observer on Saturday.
Matarbari power project is a top priority government scheme being implemented with funding from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). But uncertainty cast over its implementation due to Japanese bidders' reluctance to submit bid following the terrorist attack on Holey Artisan Bakery at Gulshan on July 1, 2016 that killed 22 people, including seven Japanese nationals.
We discuss 230 issues that took 15 days to complete the negotiation, the official added.
Earlier, the technical evaluation committee (Tec) of Matarbari 1200-MW ultra supercritical power project has recommended Sumitomo Corporation as the lowest competitive bidder for the construction of the plant that would use imported coal.
"We hope that we could complete all tasks by August, now JICA will decide whether we will fold the stage right now or star negotiation with the other company," another official said.
CPGCBL opened the bid documents in February last and found that Marubeni quoted around $3.9 billion while the Sumitomo bided $4.2 billion for the job, but as per the evaluation report, Tec found 80 deviations in Marubeni's submission. So as per rules Sumitomo Corporation get the first chance to start the talk with the government.
"Two Japanese firms--Sumitomo Corporation and Marubeni Corporation-- have technically qualified for setting up the country's first supercritical power projects having the capacity to generate 1,200-MW of electricity at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar.   
CPGCBL will implement the project at a cost of Tk 35,984 crore with Tk 28,939 crore from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The rest of the cost will come from government funds. As per agreement, only Japanese companies were eligible to submit document here.
"Evaluation of those tenders is not over yet. We have sent the report to the JICA and we are waiting for green signal from their side. Later, it will be sent for vetting but if JICA disagrees with the evaluation committee then it will take more time to settle the issue," the official said.
He said, "This power plant will be made after considering environmental issues. There is a description in the submitted proposal as to what will be done to keep the environment safe. The committee investigated the issues and found Marubini did not address 80 quarries related with the environment and technical issues."