Tainted BIA E-Gate project comes to a grinding halt
The much-delayed installation of electronic gate facilities at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) after awarding the procurement tender of the project to the highest bidder causing massive loss to the country more than five years after its initiation in 2017 has now been suspended.
The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Aviation has sought a clarification, on the procedure of the awarding the tender, from the Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Pvt) Ltd following the exposure of tender irregularities in the Business Times on March 12.
Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva who is the subject Minister of Aviation told the Business Times that Airport and Aviation Services Ltd has been entrusted with the task of awarding the contract of the e gate project following proper tender procedure.
He added that there should be a cabinet appointed tender board to decide the contract award to the most suitable bidder and submitting the cabinet paper to award the contract is his responsibility.
A discussion on this took place recently at the Ministry with Airport and Aviation (Sri Lanka) (Pvt) Ltd officials. At this meeting Minister de Silva instructed them to establish four e-gates at the Arrivals and Departures Terminals at the airport under Phase I of the project expeditiously.
However the Ministry has now instructed to put on hold the procurement contract which was awarded to the supplier with the highest quotation in the tender called in December 15, 2021, official sources said.
But with information received from reliable sources it is learnt that without summoning the board of directors there was a failed attempt by Airport officials to get signatures of the board of directors to a circular for the approval to procure the e gates.
According to reliable information, the Department of Immigration officials in the evaluation have had a hand in expediting this procurement and it was observed that the nominated bidder has given a 35 per cent discount on the originally offered price US$ 2.08 million to expedite this procurement process in favour of them due to some unknown reasons.
Business Times tried to contact Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri, Chairman Airport and Aviation Ltd on several occasions for his comments and for clarifications with regard to reasons relating to a huge discount offered for this hurried procurement but he was not available due to his busy official schedule and meetings.
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