The Cabinet of Ministers has approved three contracts worth a combined Rs. 2.12 billion to renovate and upgrade rural roads in the Western and Northern Provinces, with all three packages going to the same contractor.
Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said the awards were made under the Rural Ways Programme following a national competitive procurement process, Daily FT reported. Seventeen bids were submitted. After evaluation, the High-Level Procurement Committee recommended three packages be awarded to M/s RR Construction (Pvt) Ltd, which it identified as the lowest substantially responsive bidder.
The three packages
The contracts, all quoted exclusive of VAT, are:
- Kalutara District, Western Province — Package No. 02, Rs. 659.05 million
- Kilinochchi District, Northern Province — Package No. 01, Rs. 801.74 million
- Mullaitivu District, Northern Province — Package No. 02, Rs. 659.12 million
The three sum to Rs. 2,119.91 million. The resolution was submitted by the Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development.
Context
Two of the three packages are in the Northern Province, and the Kilinochchi award is the largest of the three. The Kalutara package follows earlier rural road work in the same district: in June the government began a Rs. 1.34 billion ADB-funded iRoad programme covering 14 rural roads in Kalutara.
Neither the Cabinet release nor the reporting on it states the total road length covered by the three packages, the completion timelines, or how many of the 17 bids were judged substantially responsive — so it is not possible from the published material to assess how close the runner-up bids were.
