Land development for Sheikh Hasina University to start soon

The land development works for constructing Sheikh Hasina University at the bordering district of Netrokona would commence soon as most of the paperwork has already been done for carrying out physical activities there, officials said.

Authorities have found M/S. Nuruzzaman Khan firm as the lowest bidder among the tender offered for the land development works. The company will implement the project at a cost of Tk 239.55 crore.

A procurement proposal to this end will be presented before the Cabinet Committee on Public Procurement meeting to be chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal for approval, on Wednesday, officials of the Secondary and Higher Education Division said.

The Development Project Proforma (DPP) of the project ‘Establishment of Sheikh Hasina University, Netrokona’ under the Secondary and Higher Secondary Division of the Ministry of Education was approved by an ECNEC meeting on November 7, 2018.

The total cost of the project has been estimated at Tk 2,637.41 crore. The project implementation period was supposed to begin on January 1, 2019 and end in December 2021. However, the process was delayed due to bureaucratic bottlenecks and Covid-19 pandemic, officials said.

To begin physical works in favour of Sheikh Hasina University tenders were called for the completion of land development on 498.45 acres of land at Singha Bangla Union of Netrokona Sadar Upazila.

According to a quotation (2018) of the Department of Public Works, the official estimate for the development work should come around Tk 240.66 crore.

The approved DPP of the project has also incorporated a provision of Tk 355.85 crore for carrying out other ancillary works.

According to sources, tender for the development of land was published in various dailies. The last date for submission of tenders was set 23rd February, 2021.

A total of 11 tender documents were sold while 5 were submitted which were opened on that day. The official cost of the project is now Tk 240.66 crore.

In the tender, the joint venture of National Development Engineers Limited and MM Builders and Engineering Limited quoted Tk 216.58 crore for the project. Meanwhile, M/S Nurzzaman Khan quoted Tk 239.55 crore, E-Engineering Limited Tk 263.13 crore, Toma Construction Company Limited and EPC Company Limited jointly quoted the cost at Tk 280.86 crore and Western Engineering Private Limited Tk 319.92 crore, respectively.

As the tender evaluation committee opened the documents, they found 2 proposals have surpassed the estimated cost by more than 10% while one quoted 10 percent less than the proposed expenditure.

However, a total of 3 tenders were automatically cancelled in the e-GP evaluation process while two others were considered for evaluation.

The Evaluation Committee then pronounced M/S. Nuruzzaman Khan and E-Engineering Ltd as the winning companies to get the project done, officials said.

The decision came after verifying all the required documents and matching all the conditions for eligibility under the e-GP system.

Of these, M/S. Nuruzzaman Khan quoted a price of Tk 239.55 crore, which is 0.46 percent less than the estimated cost while E-Engineers Limited quoted Tk 263.13 crore, which is 9.34 per cent more than the estimated expenditure.