Prospective bidders are raising concern over the Road Development Authority’s (RDA) eligibility criteria for the Port Access Elevated Highway, now at the pre-qualification stage, the Sunday Observer learns.
The project, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will run from the New Kelani Bridge (NKB) interchange to the Chaitya Road interchange, mostly over the existing port access road and is expected to connect the marine drive extension to the highway network at the NKB interchange. Prospective bidders allege that a particular clause in the eligibility criteria limits competition and makes the project more expensive overall. The clause states ‘that to be eligible for the project, bidders must have constructed a 5 km elevated highway that must be more than US$ 200 million in value.’
When the Sunday Observer contacted the Minister of Highways and Higher Education, Lakshman Kiriella, he said that ‘the requirement’ has been stated because it is necessary to seek companies which have that capacity and experience to do a similar project.
“We have calculated the minimum amount that will cost to build five kilometres and it is based on that premise that we have asked for a similar prequalification. Our engineers have calculated the minimum amount and that is why we have put this requirement,” the Minister said.
A letter written to Project Coordinator A. H. M. Nizar, and copied to Prime Minister and other relevant authorities, a concerned bidder said that a clause that covers, “Contracts of size and nature” of the prequalification document limits competitiveness.
“The cost structure of civil projects varies depending on many factors, such as the financial viability of a company, its ability to carry out a project and the technical ability of the company must be judged separately and should not be linked together under one limiting clause as per the clause 4.1 as it stands now,” the letter stated.
Speaking to the Sunday Observer, Nizar said, the estimate was checked by the RDA as well as the ADB earlier it was at USD 240 million then there was a request by several parties and we reduced the amount to USD 200 million.
“We have adhered to norms and precedents that we usually follow when calling for bids. We expect the prospective bidders to have done work of similar capacity. Since the contract prices may differ depending on the country, we decided to keep the price in US dollars,” he explained.
Refuting the argument that such a prerequisite may limit the number of bidders or cater to one bidder, he said that they have received 40 bids so far and except for one bidder who has raised issues, all the others have not.
However, bidders are pointing out that the next phase of these interconnected elevated highways, the NKB to the Rajagiriya section, which is similar in length and construction, does not contain this restrictive clause.