Nigerian Meter Manufacturers and Assemblers have intensified their demand for Federal Government to step in and cause the suspension of the bid by TCN PMU for the supply of 1,250,000 smart meters for eleven (11) Discos in the West African nation.
The World Bank is financing the procurement of the meters with a loan of US$155 million and the bid is expected to close Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
The bid has five lots and interested companies are raising Bid security of US$340,000 for lot 1, US$396,000 for lot 2, US$407,000 for lot 3, US$450,000 for lot 4 and US$385,000 for lot 5.
According to the manufacturers, the current structure of the bid would make it difficult for majority of the local companies to participate in the process.
In their view, the structure of the bid will favour only foreign companies who have the capacity to borrow from their foreign banks.
Speaking to energynewsafrica.com Ademola Agoro, Acting President of the Association of Meter Manufacturers of Nigeria said there are about 40 plus local meters with the capacity to produce about 5 million meters.
He said the local manufacturers have invested a lot in building their capacity to be able to produce meters to meet demand and wondered why the bid has been structured in a way that only favours foreign companies.
He told this portal that the local manufacturers are not saying that the bid should not be competitive but that it should be restructured to make it easier for local meter manufacturers to be able to raise the bid security.
He said instead of the current 5 lot which is why they are raising concerns, TCN PMU should expand the lot from 5 to 20, stating that this will reduce the money for bid security and, consequently allow more local meter manufacturers to participate.
He added that the bid should be restructured in such a way that any foreign company that wins can partner with a local firm for the execution of the contract.
According to him, if the bid process is allowed to continue in its current state it will mess all the gains local meter manufacturers have made.
“If this is allowed to go, it will mess up the gains. Many local meter manufacturing companies will close down and there will be loss of jobs,” he stated categorically.
He said the Association has the option of going to court to stop it but said they have shelved that option for now due to the fact that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had been in office for few days and therefore do not want to disturb his peace.
The Association had earlier submitted a letter to Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) requesting their intervention to suspend the bid process.
Meanwhile, Adetayo Adegbemle, Executive Director for PowerUp Nigeria, an advocacy group in Nigeria who started raising alarm about the bid process queried whether the huge amount of money in Bid security is intended to push local meter manufacturers out of business.
“It must be stated that we have had this kind of World Bank Loan with similar conditions before (2012). However, none of the Imported Meters procured under that scheme are presently still in the system.
“Again, this is a World Bank Loan, which we are definitely repaying. It is therefore imperative that we also use this to deepen our local manufacturers’ capacity,” he added
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com
