Member of Parliament of the Tamil National Alliance, M. A. Sumanthiran has requested for information pertaining to the awarding of the contract to Arcelor Mittal owned by Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, to construct 65,000 houses in the North and East.
M.A. Sumanthiran
In a letter addressed to the Minister of Rehabilitation and Resettlement D. M. Swaminathan on Thursday, Sumanthiram has specifically requested for information including for the actual cost of the proposed construction of houses by Arcelor Mittal, and the comparative costs of construction submitted by the other bidders. He has requested for the information by April 21.
“While acknowledging the dire need for housing in the North and appreciating the willingness of the government to heed to it, I consider it important that such a construction process is undertaken in a transparent manner with the present and future wellbeing of the conflict-affected families in mind. As an elected parliamentary representative of the Jaffna district and on the account of the direct impact of it on members of my constituency, I have been compelled to further examine particulars relating to the aforesaid scheme, in the light of many serious concerns raised relating to the aforesaid scheme,” Sumanthiran said in his letter.
He has requested for information including particulars of the 15 bidders who pre-qualified and their respective submissions in response to the call for expressions of interest (EOI), and the criteria of the subsequently amended EOI, and the particulars of the 8 bidders who submitted the request for proposals (RFP).
Among the other information requested by Sumanthiran from the minister is the RFP criteria for ‘acceptable bid security’ and ‘confirmed comprehensive concessionary financing facility’, the RFP document submitted by ArcelorMittal and the EPI-OCPL Consortium in relation to the total cost of construction, the dates on which the financial bids were opened and the list of parties who were present at that time.
He has also requested for particulars relating to the financing arrangement with ArcelorMittal, the comparative costs of construction of the ongoing scheme to construct 10,000 houses in the north and east, the warranty period for the proposed construction, reports on the environment suitability and durability of the proposed construction, information concerning the local agent to be used in the proposed construction and information concerning to the implementation of the proposed construction of the 65,000 houses.
jay / April 9, 2016
Stun Gun,
Are you challenging the fact that the model house was built for inspection by applicants ?
Idiot , these are not bloody ‘golf clubs’ for you elite frauds.
this is for people who have not had a permanent roof over their heads for generations
You air conditioned fools just cannot comprehend, thet they have to be given the right to choose and when they choose , thier choice has to be respected and honored
God damn you and your exploitative types
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Stungun / April 9, 2016
Conceited moron, golf clubs or tin boxes are manufactured by automation.
Even breeze blocks for construction are done so.
“God damn you and your exploitative types “”
Angry man If you look up and spit it falls on you.
Stop oozing excreta this is solid gun hot or cold – we innovate.
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Grease Yakka. / April 9, 2016
Why are Indian parma now a banned product in the EU.
Test are not logical- just one instance of benchmark they approve.
Chinese herbal banned by EU because of animal ingredients.
Most of Indians new billionaires are the men from Pharma.- go fetch Forbes.
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Arcelor / April 9, 2016
Choose? Choose between what? Between a fraudulent and impractical steel house that they will regret one month in versus living in a shack? I think we all know the answer to that. Doesn’t make it any more right.
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joe / April 11, 2016
What is going on.
They are giving free houses. Just take it if you want do changes later.
I will take it if they don’t want.
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Tamil from the north / April 12, 2016
Sumanthiran is right, why Mittal an Indian to build homes in SL? Why don’t we have good engineering firms in SL which can do this?
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Native Vedda / April 13, 2016
Tamil from the north
” Why don’t we have good engineering firms in SL which can do this?”
All good, hard working and aspiring engineers have migrated to foreign countries where their contribution is valued, recognized, and rewarded.
The rest of the home grown engineers are just marking time, pushing pen, mostly working for the state, carrying b***s, giving 1001 excuses as to why he/she couldn’t complete a simple task,… planning their next move to make some income on the side, …… thriving on office politics, accounting creatively for ghost workers and non supply of materials, … thinking very hard how best to impress fellow female colleagues and of course the wife, ….
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SJ / April 13, 2016
Tamil from the north
There are enough good construction engineering companies.
Building was a field where our engineers excelled, especially since the 1960s, and are still very good.
Deliberate wrecking of all national industry started under JRJ in 1978. The Buildings Department was ruined, then the SEC and so on.
In the name of foreign aid, all construction work was parcelled out to foreign firms, of course for huge commissions.
Some of the semi-state enterprises have since revived and are doing good work.
In this case, the cost of building (excluding fittings) is over twice what is needed for a very comfortable house.
Money is to be borrowed for the proposed 65k houses, and the lender has acted through various agencies to award it to Arcelor-Mittal. There many at home screaming their heads off in support of this idea, perhaps knowing the workings, perhaps not.
Arcelor-Mittal, by the way, is unable to dispose of its stock of steel owing to a global glut.
Either the GoSL is a bunch of suckers or a gang of thieves to go along with a plan that will help to bankrupt to country through overspending by 100% to provide housing to a people whose preferences have not been asked.
Sumanthiran was good enough to ask the right question.
CV Wigneswaran has after a long time spoken for the good of the people.
Strangely, the usually calm Minister Swaminathan is breathing fire.
If good answers are not forthcoming, we can only draw our own conclusions
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