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Nigerian
Dredging Summit 2011.
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IN
THE NEWS...
Federal Govt Queries
Ministry of Transport over Calabar Port Dredging Contract.
Two critical projects in the maritime industry
have come under the sledgehammer of the Federal Government, which has
queried the supervisory Ministry of Transport over its handling of the
schemes. The projects are the dredging of the Calabar Port Channel in
Cross River State and the concessioning of the Koko Port in Delta State.
At the centre of the dredging contracts are two firms, which had earlier
abandoned the project but are seeking its upward review from N8 billion
to N30 billion. They are also entangled over which firm won the bid
for the contract.
But the government, in barring its fangs on the contract for the dredging
of the Calabar Port through the Bureau for Public Procurement (BPP),
refused to issue it a certificate of no objection, which implied that
it had been cancelled.
In the case of the Koko Port, the private operator of the terminal Queen
Leigh, has been sacked by the government for alleged fitful handling
of the facility.
The dredging contract was awarded to Lagos Channel Management (LCM),
jointly owned by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and an Israeli firm.
The NPA controls 60 per cent equity in the company.
The contract award has been trailed with controversies as a Belgian
company, Jan De Nul, which also bidded for the contract, petitioned
the BPP, saying it ought to be awarded the contract because it made
least offer. In the petition, the firm claimed that LCM was favoured
during the evaluation stage because it is a subsidiary of the NPA. It
therefore asked the BPP to intervene in the matter in the interest of
justice.
Consequently, the BPP queried the Federal Ministry of Transport, which
forwarded its response, with input from the NPA.
In the reply to the BPP’s memo, the NPA referred to sections 16
and 17 of the bureau’s enabling Act, which states that “a
contract shall be awarded to the lowest evaluating bid from the bidders
substantially responsive to the bid solicitation.”
But BPP Director-General, Mr. Emeka Eze, recently in Abuja, said his
office would cancel the entire bidding exercise because the NPA failed
to follow due process in the award of the contract.
According to him, the BPP would insist on the nine steps in public procurement
being strictly followed before a certificate of no objection is issued
to any company.
Jan-De-NUL was one of the companies that won the contract for the dredging
of the same channel six years ago at the cost of N8 billion.
The two companies, including Jan De-NUL that is now contesting the N30
billion deal, abandoned the job then on the ground that they completed
the job in line with the terms of the contract.
They later asked for contract variation, which was not granted before
they left the job uncompleted.
In its defence, the NPA said: “We are of the view that DRJDN (Jan
De Nul) only pre-empted the outcome of the bid evaluation process by
declaring that it has the lowest and most competitive bid.”
It said the DRJDN disregarded the bidding requirement as contained in
the BPP Act, when it gave 18 conditions with far reaching cost implications
in its bid, hence its disqualification.
NPA alleged that DRJDN latter wrote it a letter to withdraw the conditions
attached to the bid after submission, an action it viewed as an attempt
to make a mockery of the tender process.
The NPA said in the reply through supervisory ministry that the action
of the Belgian firm was an indication of the fact that it submitted
a lower bid so that it could later come up with other claims, as it
did in the last dredging scheme.
It further claimed that one of the conditions given by DRJDN in the
bid was the restriction of soil disposal distance to a maximum of 2km
without prior discussions or clarification.
“Apparently, based on its involvement in the last dredging campaign,
DRJDN is aware that the approved distance is between 5-8km. It may therefore
increase the bid price by almost 100 per cent according to computations
on costs.”
Besides, the NPA alleged that DRJDN completion time as contained in
its bid was unrealistic.
“When the scope of work was compared to the completion period
stated by DRJDN, it was adjudged grossly unrealistic. During the first
dredging phase of the Calabar Access Channel, it took DRJDN 16.25 months
to dredge 43.5 km. The current exercise involves 84km of the journey
and DRJDN quoted completion time of 13 months.”
Also, the NPA said the foreign firm’s bid was based on a fuel
price of $765/mt while the prevailing rate was in excess of $100mt.
“This will lead to claims for variation and price adjustment even
before the signing of the contract agreement” if declared the
winner.
The NPA said the equipment, which the DRJDN said it intended to use
during the execution of the contract were inadequate compared to the
ones LCM planned to use for the work.
“The equipment proposed to be deployed by DRJDN is not compatible
with NPA’s operational requirement and the objective to keep navigational
channel open to traffic.”
According to NPA, while DRJDN proposed to deploy a culter suction dredger
with floating pipeline connection, the LCM offered trailing upper suction
dredgers, which are deemed appropriate. The equipment compatibility
is a condition, which if not satisfied, leads to the rejection of any
bidder,” it said.
The NPA also faulted allegations of conflict of interest by the co-bidder,
noting because of its substantial share of LCM, which won the dredging
contract argued “that the essence of the disclosure requirement
in the BPP Act is to protect the interest of the procuring entity, in
this case, the NPA… The definition of a procurement proceeding
is the initiation of the process of effecting procurement up to the
award of the contract. In this case, it cuts across the parastatal’s
Tenders Board, Ministerial Tenders Board, BPP and the Federal Executive
Council (FEC). It had no yet been able to establish if any public officer
responsible for taking any decision on the matter has any special on
pecuniary interest in any of the participants in the current exercise.”
Before the sack of Messrs Queen Leigh from the Koko Port, the government
had said it would embark on a comprehensive review of the port reform
programme to find out the concessionaires that had failed to adhere
to the terms of the agreement in terms of physical development and investment.
Sources at the Presidency said on Tuesday the contract between Queen
Leigh and the government was terminated for alleged lack of compliance
with the terms of the agreement.
The company allegedly failed to develop the port, attract needed investment
to upgrade the facility like other ports in the country.
“The NPA wrote to advise us that the agreement should be terminated
and when we investigated the allegations from the landlords (NPA), we
discovered that truly the concessionaire had since abandoned the port.
So, we obliged the NPA by advising that the contract be terminated,”
the official said.
The concessionaire was accused of operating the port terminal for a
few years and abandoning it.
Three years ago when the concessionaire was still operating at the port,
he allegedly failed to comply with the agreement in areas of safety
and environment.
Former General Manager (GM) of the Eastern Ports of Warri, Koko, Calabar,
Onne and Port Harcourt, Mr. Etoye Sotoye, first gave the hint of the
unsuccessful concession of the Koko Port in Abuja last year, when he
said it had become non-functional. “The port is dead,” he
said.
According to him, the concession of the port “was advertised like
any other port before the concession programme and it was eventually
given to an indigene,” he said.
The office of Queen Leigh within and outside the Port of Koko could
not be located neither were the principal officers of the firm.
(Culled from Nigeria Daily News)
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The
scorecard on Nigerian seaport reforms
It’s ten years since the Obasanjo’s presidency kick-started
the search for better fortunes for Nigeria’s port industry. Once
upon a time, the ports were a haven for wharf rats. No more. Ships then
spent weeks in port to load and discharge. Stevedores were unruly, practicing
the infamous “akube” system, where shipping lines paid for
16-men gangs but get 8 men instead. None could do anything about it
for many years. The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) was then
a glorified gang-up of port industry warlords. Former transport minister,
Chief Ojo Maduekwe, shocked the nation when he exposed bags of money
brought to him at night to soft-pedal the wheels of the reforms which
started rolling during his tenure.
Read more...
Other Articles &
Interviews:
Mr Pier Luigi Carrodano on his
work with Gen. T Y Danjuma's companies and the Chinese sea trade with
Nigeria...NEW
Engr Akin Olaniyan on need for NIMASA
to return to original mandate and harnessing cabotage trade...NEW
Dr. Wilson Odafe Omene on Niger
Delta politics, amnesty programme, Nigerian maritime and local govt,
etc....NEW
Capt
Adeyemo on River Niger Dredging...
Prof
P.C. Nwilo on his assessment of NIWA during sabbatical ...
Mr
Nseyeng Ebong on his 8-year tenure as rector of Maritime Academy
of Nigeria Oron...
Chief
Dumo Lulu Briggs as
chairman of Maritime Academy of Nigeria Oron, his vision...
Engr
Muyiwa Omasebi: The face-off Between NIWA, MMSD and Lagos State Govt.
Otunba
K Folarin: The Collapse
of Nig. shipping lines.
P.L.
Carrodano: How govt
can revive Nig. shipping lines.
Sam
Epia: The struggles
of Nig shipping lines with cargo reservation scheme.
Jeff
Gibb: Intricacies of
the equipment market in Nigeria.
Environmental
Quality Monitoring.
Environment: "How
many choppers has DPR got?" - Chief Ogunsiji.
Dredging the Niger Delta: Interview of Ben Efekarurhobo.
Role
of Surveying in the Dredging Industry
G.B Liman:
Of Myth, Reality and Resource Control
Dredging
Law: A judgment on the ownership of a sand dredging site by the
Court of Appeal.
Dredging
Law:
a.
Lagos State Attorney General Interpretes state law on sand dredging
and stockpile.
b.
NIWA public notice on Lagos State intervention in inland waterways regulation.
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TRAINING COURSES.
Efficient Dredge
Master Training
Train your dredge masters, engineers, electricians and deckhands in
relevant skills for efficiency, productivity, equipment safety and maintenance.
All trainees are time-tested with written and practical tests. Transcripts
and attendance certificates given.
Courses:
1. Dredge Appreciation / Refresher –
knowledge of safety procedures for equipment use:
PPE; Safety operation onboard dredge; Maintenance routine; Checks for
optimal production while pumping; working with boosters; splicing and
fixing cables, cleaning and painting; Etc. For Dredge crews mainly.
Class room lectures and Practical sessions onboard dredge.
2. Firefighting
and Protective Measures (including respiratory protection). For
Dredge crews, Field and Technical workers. Class room lectures and Practical
session at the Fire Bay.
3. Basic sea
survival techniques and the use of lifesaving equipment. Class
room lectures and Practical sessions at the standard swimming pool with
professional gear.
For details of availability, duration, registration, fees and teaching
logistics, please contact the organizers:
Dredge Skills and Marine Training Centre Ltd.
E187, Ikota Shopping Complex, VGC, Ajah. Lagos Nigeria
Tel.: +234 1 7928166 or 08033378735
Email: dredgeskills@gmail.com
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