Tender bender over Gas
22 May 2015 05:22 am
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The Litro gas company has recently called tenders for the supply of 190,000 MT of LPG.
It was a public sealed tender and as per usual procedures was not opened in front of the participants- which clearly should have been the case if transparency was to be adhered to which itself is a deviation from Government Tender procedure.
The company that supplied LPG to the Litro Gas during the last regime – a firm ‘O... Trading’ - was said to be closely involved with a big wig of the company one Small-Balage who is now under the microscope of those probing corrupt acts.
He is said to have siphoned off millions of Dollars by adding very high freight charges for all LPG imports thereby causing undue financial pressure to all citizens of the country.
Therefore it is being said that corrupters such as the concerned firm be black listed and not allowed to quote for the current and future tender requirements at the Litro Gas. Internal sources also say although the Minister and the Chairman have changed all other management and technical staff, the financial staff remains the same inclusive of the security staff who were appointed by the Small-Balage.
It is pointed out that the gas tender is expected to be approximately U$D 120 Million. This is not something that should be taken lightly and awarded to those who should be black listed or have tried to price corner the Sri-Lankan consumer in the past.