Dhaka Asks Delhi to Explain about its Tender

[eastwatch]

Dhaka asks Delhi to explain its tender | The Daily Star

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013
FEASIBILITY STUDY IN BANGLADESH
Dhaka asks Delhi to explain its tender
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT

Dhaka is waiting for New Delhi to explain how a tender notice for a feasibility study on a container port in Narayanganj showed up on the Indian foreign ministry website with Dhaka being totally unaware of it.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs on May 10 posted an advertisement on its website inviting bids for “Techno-Commercial Feasibility study for setting up an Inland Container port at Narayanganj, Bangladesh”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Monday through the High Commission of India in Dhaka to know how it had happened. Dhaka also asked the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi to inform the government back home how the tender notice was published without consultation with Bangladesh.

Foreign Ministry officials said Dhaka was not at all aware of the tender before it appeared on the Indian ministry’s website.

They said it was not acceptable that the external affairs ministry would invite tenders without talking to Bangladesh.

A senior official of the shipping ministry told The Daily Star that the ministry had not given any approval to the Indian government, any individual or organisation to set up an inland container port in Narayanganj.

According to sources, Kumudini Welfare Trust of Bengal Ltd, Bangladesh, owns around 46 acres of land close to the Shitalakkhya river in Narayanganj and has shown interest in setting up an inland container port jointly with a suitable foreign company.

They offered companies around the world, including the Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor), the job of preparing a detailed study, which includes traffic study, financial appraisal and a detailed report.

Swapan Saha, chief operative executive of Kumudini, said, “We offered it to various private companies of Europe and also of India, who have the expertise and financial ability to set up a joint venture container terminal on the land, and teams from Denmark, the Netherlands and India visited the site and showed interest.”

Asked about the tender notice on the Indian external affairs ministry website, Swapan said Kumudini had no relations with the Indian government.

“We offered it to the Indian private company Concor [Container Corporation of India Ltd], not the government. This is absolutely Concor’s matter with its external affairs ministry,” he added.

He said his company would examine all feasibility studies and then pick a good partner for setting up the container terminal. “We are expecting several companies from different countries for the feasibility study job,” he said.

An official of the High Commission of India in Dhaka told The Daily Star that the Development Partnership Administration of the Ministry of External Affairs had posted the bid invitation on the website to facilitate Concor, an Indian public limited company.

Being a public limited company and due to the rules it has to follow, Concor cannot go for such feasibility study without the support of the Indian commerce and external affairs ministries. That was why the tender was published on the website, reasoned the official.

 

[eastwatch]

There are other two threads on this topic, and in one of my posts I wrote that Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan said that his Ministry has given permission to the Indian MEA. But, now I find the newspaper either misquoted him or he himself lied to save India's neck. I am sorry for my own mistake and misjudgement.

 

[Mattrixx]

Dhaka asks Delhi to explain its tender | The Daily Star

THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2013
FEASIBILITY STUDY IN BANGLADESH
Dhaka asks Delhi to explain its tender
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT

Dhaka is waiting for New Delhi to explain how a tender notice for a feasibility study on a container port in Narayanganj showed up on the Indian foreign ministry website with Dhaka being totally unaware of it.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs on May 10 posted an advertisement on its website inviting bids for “Techno-Commercial Feasibility study for setting up an Inland Container port at Narayanganj, Bangladesh”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a letter to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Monday through the High Commission of India in Dhaka to know how it had happened. Dhaka also asked the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi to inform the government back home how the tender notice was published without consultation with Bangladesh.

Foreign Ministry officials said Dhaka was not at all aware of the tender before it appeared on the Indian ministry’s website.

They said it was not acceptable that the external affairs ministry would invite tenders without talking to Bangladesh.

A senior official of the shipping ministry told The Daily Star that the ministry had not given any approval to the Indian government, any individual or organisation to set up an inland container port in Narayanganj.

According to sources, Kumudini Welfare Trust of Bengal Ltd, Bangladesh, owns around 46 acres of land close to the Shitalakkhya river in Narayanganj and has shown interest in setting up an inland container port jointly with a suitable foreign company.

They offered companies around the world, including the Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor), the job of preparing a detailed study, which includes traffic study, financial appraisal and a detailed report.

Swapan Saha, chief operative executive of Kumudini, said, “We offered it to various private companies of Europe and also of India, who have the expertise and financial ability to set up a joint venture container terminal on the land, and teams from Denmark, the Netherlands and India visited the site and showed interest.”

Asked about the tender notice on the Indian external affairs ministry website, Swapan said Kumudini had no relations with the Indian government.

“We offered it to the Indian private company Concor [Container Corporation of India Ltd], not the government. This is absolutely Concor’s matter with its external affairs ministry,” he added.

He said his company would examine all feasibility studies and then pick a good partner for setting up the container terminal. “We are expecting several companies from different countries for the feasibility study job,” he said.

An official of the High Commission of India in Dhaka told The Daily Star that the Development Partnership Administration of the Ministry of External Affairs had posted the bid invitation on the website to facilitate Concor, an Indian public limited company.

Being a public limited company and due to the rules it has to follow, Concor cannot go for such feasibility study without the support of the Indian commerce and external affairs ministries. That was why the tender was published on the website, reasoned the official.

Maybe the kumudini welfare wanted to give the work only to the Indian companies. And caused a great illusion.

 

[Lone]

Dhaka should ask GOI to take action on this too.
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[Mattrixx]

Dhaka should ask GOI to take action on this too.
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How come this birth control tablet.

 

[eastwatch]

Dhaka should ask GOI to take action on this too.
????????????? ??? ???? ????????????? ????? - ????? ???

The Health Ministry will blacklist this Indian company, the report says. But, it should not end there. The ministry should go to Court and ask to pay compensation. Any Indian product seems to be similarly Raddi. What can we expect from a country where 60% of the population defecate openly.

I do not understand why the GoB should even allow such medicines without first testing the quality? Samples must be taken from each and every consignment to check before allowing to enter the market. GoB is similarly silly, it does not have a proper guideline to make lab test of the Indian medicine. A wrong medicine can kill lives.

 

[idune]

Setting up port specially an international one is within govt jurisdiction. Awami League has to answer first where did Kumudini Welfare Trust get their permission engage to indian or any other foreign company in port building?

 

[Lone]

The Health Ministry will blacklist this Indian company, the report says. But, it should not end there. The ministry should go to Court and ask to pay compensation. Any Indian product seems to be similarly Raddi. What can we expect from a country where 60% of the population defecate openly.

I do not understand why the GoB should even allow such medicines without first testing the quality? Samples must be taken from each and every consignment to check before allowing to enter the market. GoB is similarly silly, it does not have a proper guideline to make lab test of the Indian medicine. A wrong medicine can kill lives.

Yes it should go further and BD must demand compensations.

How come this birth control tablet.

See we are in grave danger, in every possible front. Yet some of us decline to admit and understand that invasions have many forms.

 

[Markus]

Shameless GoI and bureaucrats

Treating Bangladesh as an Indian state

 

[eastwatch]

Affront to Bangladesh?s sovereignty

Affront to Bangladesh’s sovereignty

The Indian external affairs ministry’s invitation, more than a week back, for international bids for techno-commercial study for setting up of an inland container port in Narayanganj gives rise to a few unpleasant questions for the Awami League-led government, especially in respect of its ‘too friendly’ relations with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of India.

Since the news of the invitation broke, the government seems to have been at pains to establish that it was not ‘aware of it’. A senior official of the foreign ministry was quoted in a report published in New Age on Thursday as saying that Dhaka has ‘sought an explanation’ from New Delhi.

However, his assertion that ‘they [India] cannot do it’ appears rather irrelevant because the Indian external affairs ministry has already done it. Moreover, although the relevant ministries and departments of the Bangladesh government have thus far harped on the ‘we were not aware’ note, it seems somewhat unbelievable that Delhi went ahead with the invitation for techno-commercial study without some sort of acquiescence from Dhaka.

Besides, Kumudini Welfare Trust of Bengal Limited, which owns approximately 46 acres of land on the bank of the river Shitalakhya in Narayanganj, where the container depot is proposed to be built, claims that it has secured the shipping ministry’s approval for the construction of the depot, a claim denied by the shipping directorate, which sanctions approval for setting up ports, jetties and docks by any company.

Overall, it looks highly unlikely that no one in the Bangladesh government was aware of the Kumudini plan to build an inland container depot on its land and seek assistance from a largely state-owned Indian company in this regard.

If the government’s claim is true, i.e. New Delhi ought to have but did not let Dhaka know about the invitation for international bids, the development then tends to highlight, once again, the Indian government’s little or no disregard for Bangladesh’s sovereignty. It is worth noting here that, while India has displayed an essentially big brother attitude towards Bangladesh since the latter emerged as an independent state, its haughtiness seems to have reached a new height during the tenure of the AL-led government.

It is also worth noting that, despite repeated instances of New Delhi disregarding, even dismissing, Bangladesh’s genuine concerns and legitimate demands, e.g. in terms of sharing of the water of trans-boundary rivers, trade imbalance, and border killings by the Border Security Force, the incumbents have sought to build up a ‘friendly India’ myth since their assumption of office in January 2009.

In such circumstances, it would not be surprising if the Indian external affairs ministry may have thought that it could somehow manage endorsement from the AL-led government for an action that decidedly defies Bangladesh’s sovereignty.

Suffice to say, the Indian external affairs ministry’s action ultimately puts a big question mark over the AL-led government’s ability to stand up for Bangladesh’s sovereignty and dignity as an independent nation.

Of course, Kumudini should be brought to the task if it has bypassed the government and violated the relevant rules and regulations; however, what is of utmost importance is for the incumbents to take an assertive stand and demand unconditional apology from India.