Locals to the fore!

Thursday, 9 December 2010 01:25 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Giving impetus to local entrepreneurs the State Engineering Corporation (SEC) has decided to award its tenders to local businesses in an effort to promote domestic industries. The Cabinet decision came four years after the circular was issued. Under this programme the SEC will change its tender procedure to pick local manufacturers and builders rather than concentrating on the cheapest bidder as was the case earlier.

SEC Chairman Prof. Ashu Marasinghe told the media that any company with an 80%-100% local ownership would be eligible for the projects done by the State giant. The circular conveying this decision is dated 1 March 2006 while the actual Cabinet decision to give priority to local products was taken only four years later. The SEC is responsible for handling many of the large construction projects spearheaded by the government including the two new cricket stadiums for the world cup. Last year they were assigned 160 projects totalling a turnover of over Rs.4 billion. Prof. Marasinghe remarked that more projects had been scheduled for next year with the government fast tracking the development drive; this means that close to 200 tenders could be called in 2011 — double the number of projects handled this year.

Going local was adopted after a Cabinet decision taken on 30 September 2010. In the provisions numbered 7.9.5 and 7.9.6 of the government procurement guideline priorities for local job contractors and locally made goods have been stated separately. According to this 7.5% of the projects funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank should be given to local job contractors and in projects funded by the Sri Lankan government 10% priority should be given as well.

With regard to purchases made for projects funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank,15% priority is to be given to locally manufactured goods and for the locally funded projects, 20% priority is be given.

Meanwhile the Finance Ministry, under the State Finance Circular No. 448 has recently recommended using the national business directory issued annually by the Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) Rainbow Pages in obtaining goods and services under the price providing system from next year. Following this procedure the SEC has decided to use the accreditation prepared by the Maubima Lanka Foundation when choosing local products.

“With the new Budget a lot of taxes on imported construction material have been reduced; and we expect the local construction companies to become more competitive. Also our focus on quality has not shifted and we will maintain the same standards,” said Prof. Marasinghe. When questioned on the higher prices that using local products might entail, the Chairman insisted that supporting local businesses was more important than focusing only on cost.

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