“How Was Arcelor Mittal Awarded 65,000 Housing Project?” Sumanthiran Demands Answers

April 7, 2016

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.

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