Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) will invite fresh tender to procure 395,000 tabs (tablets) from Bangladeshi manufacturers.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal informed this following the rejection of a tender proposal by the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase (CCPP) on Monday.

He said the cabinet body rejected the proposal due to the deficit of the supply-firm in the selection criteria.

READ: 40 pc people know about handwashing with water and soap: BBS survey

Earlier, Fair Electronics Limited was selected by the BBS as supplier of the bulk tabs at a cost of Tk 537.12 crore.

Kamal noted two Bangladeshi firms were selected by the BBS and both were local manufacturers of the electronic devices.

“But the committee rejected the proposal of the Fair Electronics and we hope the BBS will invite fresh tender within the next 10 days”, he said.

He said the government prefers Bangladeshi manufacturers to get the job so that the “Made in Bangladesh” products could be supplied for the contract.

The  minister said many Bangladeshi firms have now become capable of producing electronic devices locally.

“We want Bangladeshi firms to obtain the capacity to supply such products with good quality”, he added.

Meanwhile, the CCPP approved a total of 15 procurement proposals from different government entities.

Two proposals of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporations (BPC) received the approval of the committee.

As per the approvals, some 1.6 million metric tons of crude petroleum will be imported from ADNOC of Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia at Tk 7,467.06 crore in 2022 and 1.290 MT of refined petroleum will be imported from (1) PetroChina International, Singapore, (2) Unipec Singapore Pte Ltd and (3) Vito Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore at a cost of Tk 7,627.04 crore during the January to June period.

The committee approved a proposal of the Khulna WASA to award a Tk 830 crore construction contract to China GEO Engineering Corporation under Khulna Sewerage System Development project.

READ: Cardiac arrest Bangladesh’s No 1 killer in 2020: BBS

A proposal of the Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority received the approval for increasing the cost of the consultant for Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport Extension project by Tk 200.92 crore.

Joint Venture of (1) Nippon Koei.Co. Ltd. Japan; (2) Oriental Consultants Global Co. Ltd. Japan; (3) CPG Consultants Pte. Ltd. Singapore (4) Development Design Consultants Ltd. Bangladesh now remained engaged in the project as its consultant.

The committee approved three separate proposals of the Bangladesh Chemical Corporation (BCIC) to import a total of 90,000 MT of urea fertilizer from under three lots, each having 30,000 MW.

Qatar’s Muntajat will supply 60,000 MT while local Kafco will supply the remaining 30,000 MT of the fertilizer.  

Qatar’s fertilizer will cost $961.17 and $964.83 per MT while Kafco’s fertilizer will cost $893.62 per MT.