05 May 2013, Abuja – The re-bid for the sale of Afam Generation Plant by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, is enmeshed in controversy following the evaluation of the technical bids submitted on 15 April, 2013.
It is alleged that some vested interests, in their bid to pre-determine the winner of the plant, had put in a place a scheme to manipulate reputable bidders with the potentials to post high purchase price out of the bid to pave the way for their acquisition of the facility.
It was reliably learnt that, at the end of the initial evaluation, all but one of the bidding firms were disqualified, thus paving the way for a single bidder. Some strong bidders who scored highly were said to have been eliminated on questionable grounds.
At the last count, sources said no less than seven petitions had been received by BPE over the evaluation process.
Considering the controversy that dogged the previous bid which consumed the former Minister of Power, experts said the BPE ought to have been more thorough with the bid.
“Again, looking at the great potentials of Afam Plant, it would have been expected that it would have served the greater interest of the government and Nigerian people to have as many bidders as possible to increase the chances of an enhanced value for the Afam Plant since the bid will go to the highest bidder”, one of the experts said.
*Lekan Bilesanmi, Vanguard
