Govt approves RFP for deepsea port FE Report 10/13/2005
The government has approved Wednesday the request for proposals (RFP) and the terms of reference (TOR) for conducting techno feasibility study on developing a deep-sea port in Bangladesh. A high powered committee headed by Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain finalised the components of the TfP and ToR during the meeting and decided to send the RfP to the already short-listed consulting firms to place technical and financial proposals by next week. "The firms will be given a two-month time for placing their technical and financial proposals to the ministry," a senior shipping ministry official told the FE. After submission of the proposals, the committee will sit again to examine the proposals of the consulting firms to ensure that they are efficient to conduct the feasibility study. A total of 100 marks have been earmarked to judge the efficiency level based on their experience in port- related jobs, educational qualifications and technical expertise. The firms, which would secure over 60 per cent marks would qualify in the efficiency test of the ministry, the meeting sources said. Financial offers of only the qualified consulting firms would be opened and considered for appointing the consultant to perform techno feasibility study on developing the deep-sea port. As per the final ToR, there has been provision of going to local arbitration by any party if the activities of the other deems contrary to the agreement. Seven international consulting firms have already been short-listed for conducting such studies after scrutinising the expression of interests (EoI) submitted by them based on the terms of reference for appointing the consultants. The firms include HPC Hamburg Port Consulting of Germany, Royal Haskoning of Netherlands, Kolen Gromit and Pvt. Ltd. of Australia, Pacific Consultants International of Japan, BCEOM of France, CPCS Transcom Ltd. of Canada and Nathan Associates of USA. The firm to be appointed from among the seven firms would have to prepare a feasibility report on commercial basis recommending the location, facilities and details of the infrastructure and services to be provided by the deep-sea port. Assessing the potential markets both national and international and assessing business opportunities including value added services and facilities would also be one of the prime jobs of the consulting firm. It would identify the most advantageous site for establishing the deep-sea port. The firm would also examine the social and environment impact of the ports The firm would estimate the required investments in short, medium and long terms with special attention on short term one for establishing the port. The firms to be appointed for conducting the techno feasibility study would have to examine whether the issue of raising 70 per cent capital of constructing the deep-sea port from the country's capital market would be feasible.
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