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Proposal for speedy purchase of fertiliser rejected

4 lakh MT urea to be bought

Staff Correspondent
The Cabinet Committee on Purchase yesterday shot down an industries ministry proposal for speedy procurement of fertiliser.
While rejecting the proposal to relax the Public Procurement Regulations 2003 for import of fertiliser, the committee approved purchase of four lakh metric ton (MT) of urea fertiliser.
The committee at a meeting yesterday chaired by Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman approved the purchase that has to be consistent with the procurement guidelines. The ministry proposed
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purchase of seven lakh MT of fertiliser.
The government formulated the public purchase guidelines last year under pressure from the donors to check corruption in public procurement.
The ministry also proposed for a speedy fertiliser import as it now takes 105 days to import following the procurement guidelines after floating an international tender. By that time, the ministry feared, it may be too late to reach fertilisers to farmers reeling from the crop loss because of the monsoon flooding.
The cabinet committee said it cannot ease the rules without bringing changes to the procurement regulations and insisted on the ministry's going for the purchase in line with the regulations, meeting sources said.
The summary of the industries ministry proposal says according to the agriculture ministry the urea
fertiliser demand for the current fiscal year has been set at 26 lakh MT considering the additional demand in the farm sector in the aftermath of the floods.
As the government's production capacity has been estimated at 20 lakh MT, the agriculture ministry asked the industries ministry to immediately buy seven lakh MT urea fertiliser, three lakh from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (Kafco) and the rest from abroad, "in the light of past experience and for the sake of keeping the situation under control".
The cabinet committee however approved import of one lakh MT of fertiliser through international tender apart from the purchase of three lakh MT from Kafco for the time being.
The committee also okayed purchase of 1.25 lakh MT of diesel and 70,000 MT of octane at a cost of Tk 460 crore and a proposal for importing 10,000 MT wheat.