Staff Reporter:
The uncertainty over leasing eight temporary cattle markets and Gabtoli permanent market of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has ended as the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) and the Local Government Division (LGD) have given new directives to move ahead with the process.
The DNCC has been given a directive to proceed with evaluation work of temporary cattle markets and invite fresh tender for Gabtoli cattle market by the Local Government Division. The process was stopped over issues related to publishing the lease notice on the government procurement website.
At that time, DNCC Administrator Mohammad Azaz cancelled the tender process for leasing Gabtoli cattle market at the final stage saying the lease notification was not published on BPPA website as a requirement by the Hat-Bazar Management, Lease Method and Income Distribution Guideline of the LGD. But, the BPPA said that it was not supposed to publish such a notice.
The DNCC officials also said that they sent the letters to the BPPA but it could not be published as the relevant law does not support its publication.
Due to the unprecedented action of the DNCC administrator, the lease process for 10 cattle markets, which will be set up temporarily ahead of Eid-Ul-Azha, faced uncertainty.
The uncertainty has finally cleared as talking to the Daily Sun on 23 May, DNCC Chief Executive Officer Abu Sayed Md Kamruzzaman said the LGD has asked them to go ahead with evaluation with tenders for temporary cattle markets and asked them to invite fresh tender for Gabtoli permanent cattle market.
LGD Secretary Md Rezaul Maksud Jahedi also confirmed this to the daily Sun over phone. Besides, On 18 May, the LGD also wrote to DNCC to move ahead with the leasing process.
DNCC earlier wrote to both the BPPA and LGD asking for a solution to the crisis over leasing the Gabtoli cattle market.
On 17 May, in a letter to DNCC CEO clearly said that lease is not a procurement process and publishing its notification on BPPA on its website was their beyond their jurisdiction.
Talking to the Daily Sun on Friday, DNCC CEO Kamruzzaman said, “We invited tenders on 29 April for 10 temporary cattle markets and we have evaluated proposals for nine markets. We have recommended finalising four while we did not get enough rates for evaluation of proposals for four cattle markets.”
He also said, “We have submitted our proposals to the administrator for final approval.”
Besides, a fresh tender will be called for four cattle markets, he added.
Meanwhile, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) CEO Zillur Rahman said that they too have leased out four cattle markets so far and two are under evaluation.
He said, “Due to the ongoing blockade at DSCC Nagar Bhaban, the leasing process was disrupted. When things settle down, we can lease out the rest of the cattle markets within a short time.”
