New twists in Kıb-Tek fuel oil tender saga
THE Central Tender Commission (MİK) has relaunched a multi-million dollar tender for the purchase and supply of fuel oil for the Teknecik power station run by the Cyprus Turkish Electricity Authority (Kıb-Tek).
The move happened after Prime Minister Ünal Üstel on Monday cancelled the previous tender to supply some 200,000 tonnes of fuel oil, following days of media and public backlash over the MİK’s decision to award the contract to a firm called İçkale.
Cyprus Today’s sister newspaper Kıbrıs reported on Monday that the same company had brought a delivery of 12,000 tonnes of fuel oil on Sunday under a separate “direct purchase” deal at a cost of around $75 per tonne, despite having offered to supply the fuel oil for around $46 per tonne in the tender. Another company had offered to supply fuel oil for as low as $19.80 per tonne in the cancelled tender.
Following the publication of the story Mr Üstel announced that the tender held on September 15 had been cancelled on the grounds that the outcome was “unacceptable”.
Explaining his decision, Mr Üstel said: “[The] tender was held to eliminate the deficit in the electricity supply and to avoid fuel problems in the upcoming period, but we
saw that there were great differences in pricing in the tender with offers ranging from $19.80 to $45 [per tonne].
“We see that the freight cost may be lower than anticipated among the bids in the last tender, which was held using the bargaining method.
“The assessment has determined that it is true that the freight market is in a downward trend in fuel purchases.
“Taking into account the fact that [KıbTek] is in serious economic trouble, it is obvious that the result of the last fuel tender . . . is not technically, legally and conscientiously acceptable and that there will be a serious cost in terms of payment for KıbTek.”
On Thursday details of the new tender were announced on the MİK’s official website, which stated that bids can be submitted until 10am on Tuesday, October 11, for the “Supply and Shipping Tender” of around 150,000 tonnes of fuel oil with a maximum “one per cent sulphur” content.
According to the MİK tender announcement, both “local and foreign companies registered in the TRNC and economic enterprises that are not established in the TRNC can participate in the tender”.
The total estimated value allocated for the tender has been announced as $7.8 million, or around $52 per tonne.
Before the previous tender was concluded, MİK chairman Halis Üresin had warned that cancelling it would cause “problems”.
“We don’t want a cancellation because then a new tender process will begin,” he had said last week.
“New technical and administrative specifications will be prepared. There will be a new legal phase, namely the suspension process and application process. So this takes a fairly long time.”