The tender floated for the construction of Semera – Tadjourah railway is postponed by Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) for the fifth time.
It was back in Thursday, August 7, 2014 that the Corporation floated the tender first time with a closing date requiring bidders to submit their technical as well as financial proposal by Friday, August 22, 2014. 11 companies bought the bid document.
Latter the bid closing date was changed to Monday, October 13, 2014 and then again it faced two more extension to November 2, 2014, and January 30, 2015.
The railway is going to stretch for 280 Kilometers and it will connect Semera with Djibouti Port at Tadjourah. The project is part of Ethiopia’s national project that aims to construct a railway that stretches from Mekele – Weldya/Hara then Gebeya – Semera-Tadjourah Port. However, part of this project, Mekele – Weldya/Hara, was awarded to the Chinese company, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), in 2012.
The railway is said to connect the Afar State with Djibouti with the aim of transporting potash, metals and other products from the northern part of Ethiopia to the international market.
The eleven companies that bought the bid document received a letter stating the closing date has been once again postponed to Tuesday, March 3, 2015.
One international bidder explained ERC changed the requirements it first set and this could lead to the exclusion of some of the bidders. The changes include requiring bidders to have an experience of undertaking USD 200 Million worth project and also 180 Kilometers of road as well as 180 Kilometers of railway.
The CEO of ERC noted there are two reasons why the Corporation decided to postpone the due date. “One is because of requests from the bidders for more time to prepare financial and technical proposal. The second reason is that we needed to provide some explanations to some bidders who were not clear about some points in the bid document,’’ he explained.
The feasibility study was undertaken back in 2012 by an Indian firm, Overseas Infrastructure Alliance Plc (OIA). According to Fortune, OIA also prepared a bidding document and detailed engineering design for the project that is expected to be finalized in five years with a 300 million dollar financing that is secured from Indian
government.
Source: Fortune
