Huge North-East housing project: Cabinet nod sought for fresh tenders

The Ministry of Resettlement has sought Cabinet approval to call fresh tenders for a massive housing project in the North and East. It is also learnt that the number of houses for which the green light is being sought has been significantly increased.

The project to build 65,000 houses has been in the pipeline for several months. It was first advertised at the end of last year. Only two companies passed the technical evaluation. They were EPI-OCL Consortium and the French steel giant ArcelorMittal. EPI-OCL is a joint venture between an Indian company and Olympus Construction (Pvt) Ltd, which is headed by the son of Primary Industries Minister Daya Gamage.

Of these, only ArcelorMittal’s financial bid for steel, prefabricated houses was considered. The proposal had drawn considerable concern due to the nature of the houses and their cost (estimated at Rs. 2.1 million each, pushing the total contract price up to US$ 1 billion). The Northern Provincial Council and the Jaffna District Coordinating Committee are among those that have rejected steel prefab housing for the war-displaced.

This week, a civil society group issued a fresh statement on the project, pointing out that an alternative proposal for brick and mortar houses was readily available to Resettlement Ministry complete with financing from local banks. The proposal was conveyed again to Minister D. M. Swaminathan this week, with a note that it was a re-submission.

“For almost a year now, a move by the Ministry of Resettlement to award a contract for 65,000 prefabricated steel houses for war-affected households to the multinational ArcelorMittal has raised many serious questions and public debate,” said a statement from the group, signed by ten representatives.

“Regrettably, despite the wide spectrum of concerns by a cross-section of voices, the government did not expeditiously review the project, thus lengthening the wait of thousands of war-affected households for adequate housing,” it said.

The civil society group is supported by organisations and networks working on housing, with expertise in engineering, architecture, planning, community housing, financing, economics, development planning, law, community organisation, and project management.

“On 19th May, we submitted to the Government a comprehensive alternative concept to the ArcelorMittal proposal,” the group said. “This alternative included a domestic financing option and would build 102,000 masonry houses with the same amount of money need to build the 65,000 prefabricated ArcelorMittal houses.”

“Recent media reports suggest that the Government has decided to re-tender the project entirely, breaking it up into smaller components,” the statement continued. “If continued, this move is belated but necessary.”

But the group said it would be meaningful and welcome “only if the re-tendered project is redesigned so as to be rooted in principles of equity, community ownership, participation and social mobilisation and strengthen communities and the local economy”.

“Moreover, it must rely on mobilisation of domestic financing and industry, use of locally appropriate/ adaptable materials, technologies and labour and ensure socio-culturally appropriate houses,” it said.

The group called on the Government to expedite the process of re-tendering but to do so in an unbiased and transparent manner that is in strict conformity with the procedures prescribed.