By Abdulai Gbla
Three Korean engineering and construction firms have expressed interest in the multimillion dollar construction of City Hall, already billed to be the tallest building in Freetown once completed.
The Freetown City Council (FCC) recently opened the bidding process for the said work at their offices on Wallace Johnson Street, which saw the three Korean companies and a few local ones taking part in the exercise.
One of the firms backed out of the process without explanation while another did not show up, leaving the hall with POSCO, A&C, Samoo Architects and Engineers and DMP.
Chief engineer of FCC, Horatio Max-Gorvie said the money - US$ 55 million - which had already been set aside for the construction of the proposed building was a loan from the Korean Export and Import Bank (KEXIM Bank).
He said the money was for both the consultancy and the construction of the city hall, pointing out that the exercise was using “a limited-competitive bidding approach”. He added that the firms would have to be assessed in collaboration with the KEXIM Bank in Korea.
Max-Gorvie said that they would be using a quality based selected method. He noted that the bidding process was using a two-pronged approach in which bidding firms would be required to submit two sets of proposals - the technical which is the major one and the financial.
“After each bidding exercise, an evaluation committee would have to go through the details of the companies and all technical proposals. The bidder with the highest technical score would then be invited for negotiation,” said Max-Gorvie.
Mayor of Freetown, Sam Franklin Bode Gibson said that it was too soon to comment but warned that the process had just started and it would be good to wait and see. He, however, promised that the rest of the bidding process would continue in a "free, fair and transparent manner".
(C) Politico 06/12/13
