Public Enterprise Development Minister Kabir Hashim yesterday said Sri Lanka Insurance, which is the largest shareholder of State-run Litro Gas would be asked to probe accusations of non-transparency during its latest tender.
Litro Gas floated a tender for the supply of 250,000 metric tons of LP gas to Sri Lanka earlier this month. The tender is considered to be one of the largest tenders made by the Government annually and was estimated by analysts to be worth about $100 million.
The process of an open tender is to openly call out the bids of all companies once the bids are handed in but representatives of companies present at the closing of the tender charge that this process was overlooked, thereby hampering its transparency. They have also charged that the tender was kept open beyond the closing time to provide preferential treatment for a selected number of bids.
Litro Gas has rejected the allegations and insisted it conducted a transparent tender process based on obtaining the best price and best technical evaluation resulting in the Government making a savings of Rs.1.7 billion. A subsequent statement released by Litro Gas outlining the profit did not give details on the final bid price made by Shell Eastern Trading Ltd., who eventually won the tender.
“Concerns over this tender have been conveyed to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as well,” acknowledged Minister Hashim, who added “The Board of Directors of Sri Lanka Insurance is empowered to call for an outside expert opinion if they feel due process was not followed in this instance. The board has done so on a previous occasion and I have confidence they would do the same in this instance as well.”
Minister Hashim also noted he would consider holding a press conference at a later date to discuss the controversial matter further.
www.ft.lk
Litro Gas floated a tender for the supply of 250,000 metric tons of LP gas to Sri Lanka earlier this month. The tender is considered to be one of the largest tenders made by the Government annually and was estimated by analysts to be worth about $100 million.
The process of an open tender is to openly call out the bids of all companies once the bids are handed in but representatives of companies present at the closing of the tender charge that this process was overlooked, thereby hampering its transparency. They have also charged that the tender was kept open beyond the closing time to provide preferential treatment for a selected number of bids.
Litro Gas has rejected the allegations and insisted it conducted a transparent tender process based on obtaining the best price and best technical evaluation resulting in the Government making a savings of Rs.1.7 billion. A subsequent statement released by Litro Gas outlining the profit did not give details on the final bid price made by Shell Eastern Trading Ltd., who eventually won the tender.
“Concerns over this tender have been conveyed to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as well,” acknowledged Minister Hashim, who added “The Board of Directors of Sri Lanka Insurance is empowered to call for an outside expert opinion if they feel due process was not followed in this instance. The board has done so on a previous occasion and I have confidence they would do the same in this instance as well.”
Minister Hashim also noted he would consider holding a press conference at a later date to discuss the controversial matter further.
www.ft.lk
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