Mosquito control pesticide in Chattogram bought from adviser’s company

The Chattogram City Corporation purchased BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) for the first time in an effort to improve mosquito control across the city.

In September last year, during the tenure of the interim government, the corporation bought the modern larvicide from Chattogram-based Faras Pest Control for Tk 36.3 million. The company is owned by Faruk-e-Azam Bir Protik, who was then an adviser to the interim government.

Representatives of civil society organisations working on good governance consider the participation of a company owned by a government adviser in the tender process for supplying the pesticide to be a conflict of interest.

However, former adviser Faruk-e-Azam claimed that no rules had been violated. The city corporation, also said the company was awarded the contract not because it belonged to an adviser, but because it met the eligibility requirements of the tender.

Although the work order for supplying the BTI was issued last September, the matter has recently drawn attention following remarks made by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.

Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Shahadat Hossain and five other officials recently sought permission to visit the United States to observe innovative mosquito control methods.

Rejecting the proposed trip to Florida, the prime minister reportedly remarked that there was no need to travel there to learn mosquito control techniques, as innovative methods could just as easily be developed by standing beside a pond in the country after dusk.

At the time, the Prime Minister’s Press Wing said the proposed visit to inspect mosquito control initiatives in Florida was to be funded by Valent BioSciences LLC. It later emerged that the BTI produced by the company had been purchased by the city corporation last year through Faras Pest Control.

According to Chattogram City Corporation sources, a tender was floated through the Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) system in August last year. Two companies participated: Chattogram-based Faras Pest Control and Dhaka-based Messrs Ahsania International.

Although Ahsania submitted the lower bid of Tk 31 million, its proposal was declared non-responsive for failing to meet the required tender conditions. As a result, it was excluded at the evaluation stage.

Faras Pest Control, which met all the requirements and quoted Tk 36.3 million, was awarded the contract on 17 September last year. The company supplied 2,200 units of BTI (500 grams per unit, or a total of 1,100 kilograms). The city corporation began using the pesticide on 1 December last year.

Chief waste management officer of the City Corporation Captain Ikhtiar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury told Prothom Alo that Dhaka North City Corporation had attempted to procure BTI several years earlier, but the process had been marred by fraud involving the supply. As a result, Chattogram City Corporation had been extremely cautious in purchasing BTI.

He said the work order was issued only after Faras Pest Control was confirmed to be the local agent of the US-based manufacturer of the pesticide. The tender process was also followed properly. He stressed that the contract was not awarded because the company belonged to an adviser to the interim government.

Ikhtiar Uddin Ahmed said the company’s trade licence remains in the name of then adviser Faruk-e-Azam. However, before assuming office as an adviser, he had handed over responsibility for running the business to another person.

When contacted, former adviser Faruk-e-Azam Bir Protik told Prothom Alo that Faras Pest Control is his company, but its operations are managed by its managers. He said he had stopped overseeing its day-to-day management well before becoming an adviser.

According to him, if the company supplied mosquito control pesticide to the city corporation during his tenure as an adviser, it did so in full compliance with the relevant rules and regulations. He said he does not see any conflict of interest in the matter.

Akhtar Kabir Chowdhury, president of the Chattogram city unit of the civic platform Citizens for Good Governance (Shujan), told Prothom Alo although Faruk-e-Azam Bir Protik has a business, his company should not have participated in the tender to supply mosquito control pesticide while he was serving as an adviser to the interim government.

He noted that the company had never previously supplied mosquito control chemicals to the city corporation. “Why, then, did it begin supplying the pesticide after Faruk-e-Azam became an adviser?” he asked. “It is only natural that questions have been raised after his company secured the contract during his tenure as an adviser. It is very unfortunate.”

During the tenure of the ousted Awami League government, procurement rules were not followed in purchasing mosquito control chemicals. Preferred companies were awarded supply contracts without any competitive tendering. Through various methods, pesticides were repeatedly procured without inviting tenders.

In 2019 and 2022, a total of 12,750 litres of mosquito control pesticide was purchased in three phases at a cost of nearly Tk 7.5 million. The supplier was Messrs Bengal Mark International, owned by Arvin Sakib, then joint assistant secretary of the city unit of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, which has since been banned. No open tender was invited at the time.

The same procurement method was used again at the beginning of 2024. Invoking Clause 76(T) of the Public Procurement Rules, the purchases were split into several smaller lots to keep the value of each below the Tk 500,000 threshold. However, the provision is intended only for limited purchases in emergency situations.