ISLAMABAD: According to sources familiar with the situation, Karachi Port Trust (KPT) is expected to give a significant dredging contract to a bidder who was earlier rejected for lack of capacity, Dawn reported on Wednesday.
To maintain its navigation channel, the KPT requested bids on July 14 for the dredging of 4 million cubic meters, with a 120-day turnaround time.
Three of the four multinational companies that submitted bids suggested using dredging equipment with a capacity of more than 15,000 cubic meters. On the other hand, China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), a bidder, was determined to have failed to meet the deadlines and quality standards due to their proposal of underpowered equipment.
For procurement rule infractions, contact PPRA.
Given the soil conditions and work approach, the KPT team’s initial technical review excluded CHEC and indicated that a large-sized dredger was required to finish the task.
Surprisingly, because the Chinese company was the lowest bidder, the final evaluation report declared it acceptable and qualified for the dredging award.
One bidder responded by claiming that the KPT’s decision-making procedure was illegal and filed a complaint with the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA).
The bidder told the PPRA during the evaluation process that the KPT team had pointed out that a large dredger was required in order to remove the debris in accordance with engineering and international standards.
Additionally, the PPRA was notified that the technical committee had observed in its preliminary report that the qualifying bidder had offered a dredger with a capacity of over 20,000 cubic meters that was comparable to the KPT’s in-house dredger, which had failed in comparable operations.
“This prima facie is a violation of Rule 35 as neither a complete technical evaluation report nor any justification for acceptance or rejection of the technical proposals has been announced,” the PPRA wrote in a letter to the KPT. Any “violation of procurement rules shall be tantamount to mis-procurement,” the PPRA letter further stated.
To guarantee that big ships could dock at the port without running the risk of grounding, standard dredging was necessary.
The KPT spokeswoman responded to the question by stating that the matter was still being processed and that a final decision had not yet been made.
