BRTC’s electric buses will not hit Dhaka roads in January, tender revision delays project
The deadline for submitting bids under the initial tender was 4 November. At the request of contracting firms, it was extended to 8 November.
Pragoti and BMTF issued a re-tender on 10 November with revised conditions. The deadline for submission is 18 November.
An initiative to purchase 100 electric buses for the first time for the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) fleet has been delayed.
The buses were supposed to be running on Dhaka’s streets by 15 January next year, but this will not be possible now. Sources concerned say the project has been delayed because amendments were made to the tender for purchasing the buses.
The contracting firms have raised suspicions over the tender amendments, suggesting that the conditions may have been changed to favour a particular company. BRTC, however, maintains that the changes were made to increase competition.
The BNP government has taken an initiative to purchase 200 electric buses. On 5 August, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs decided to purchase the buses through the Direct Procurement Method (DPM), without inviting tenders.
In the first phase, 50 buses each will be purchased through Pragoti Industries Limited and Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF). Another 100 buses will be procured in the second phase.
The estimated cost of each bus, including its charging station and infrastructure, is Tk 40 million (4 crore). The Ministry of Finance has approved a proposal to provide BRTC with a loan of Tk 8 billion (800 crore) at 1 per cent interest to purchase the 200 buses.
The buses were supposed to be running on Dhaka’s streets by 15 January next year, but this will not be possible now. Sources concerned say the project has been delayed because amendments were made to the tender for purchasing the buses.
Pragoti is the country’s only state-owned vehicle assembly company. However, the two companies will not manufacture the buses themselves; instead, they will bring them in from abroad through suppliers.
A BRTC source said the two companies had been assigned the responsibility to ensure the buses could be brought in quickly. They will select the suppliers through a tender and send their proposals to BRTC. The corporation will then place the proposals before the cabinet committee on government purchase.
According to the documents, the complication concerns an amendment to Clause 36 of the tender. The tender issued on 29 October required the manufacturer to have a collaborative relationship with a local representative or authorised distributor in Bangladesh.
The local representative was also required to have experience of supplying passenger or goods vehicles in Bangladesh during the five years immediately preceding the issuance of the tender.
On 8 November, BRTC Director Anupam Saha sent separate letters to the two companies, instructing them to amend the conditions. The letters called for experience in supplying ‘electrical equipment’ to be included alongside vehicle supply. They also required five years’ experience in supplying such equipment and providing related services.
Conditions relaxed to increase competition
The deadline for submitting bids under the initial tender was 4 November. At the request of contracting firms, it was extended to 8 November. With the revised conditions, Pragoti and BMTF issued a re-tender on 10 November, setting 18 November as the new deadline.
Several contracting firms have questioned whether the addition of new conditions to the ongoing tender, requiring experience in supplying electrical equipment, is intended to favour a company with such experience.
BRTC Chairman and Additional Secretary Meer Ahmed Tariqul Omar told Prothom Alo that the government has relaxed the conditions to allow more companies to participate. He said both conditions should have been included in the original tender. The two officials responsible for the omission have been temporarily suspended, he added.
The two suspended officials are Abu Bakar Siddique, deputy general manager of the Planning Department, and Imam Hossain, a procurement officer. They were suspended on 8 November.
Questions have also been raised about whether they had attempted to commit irregularities by leaving out the conditions. When asked about this, Abu Bakar Siddique told Prothom Alo that amending tender conditions was the responsibility of the Procurement Department. He believes he has been suspended while action was being taken against the other official.
The air-conditioned buses will have 21 seats each and a passenger capacity of 60 to 65 people, including standing passengers. The buses will run on electricity rather than fuel. They will operate in Dhaka and neighbouring districts.
According to BRTC sources, the air-conditioned buses will have 21 seats each and a passenger capacity of 60 to 65 people, including standing passengers. The buses will run on electricity rather than fuel.
They will operate in Dhaka and neighbouring districts. Charging the buses will take one and a half hours using two cables and three hours using one cable. Each full charge will provide a maximum range of 220 kilometres.
Nine charging stations will be set up in Dhaka and surrounding areas. Pragoti will install six stations in Motijheel, Gabtoli, Technical Mor, Mirpur, Narayanganj and Narsingdi.
Pragoti’s acting Managing Director Mohammad Abu Sayeem told Prothom Alo that the amendments were intended to ensure maximum competition and participation. They were trying to get the buses on the roads as quickly as possible, he said.
A source at the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) said the Public Procurement Rules allow the use of the Direct Procurement Method (DPM). A senior BPPA official told Prothom Alo that the two companies concerned have no experience in assembling or maintaining electric buses.
However, the authorities at Pragoti Industries Limited and BMTF said no one in the country had experience in manufacturing such buses. They said they had extensive experience in the vehicle sector instead.