By Fatima Zahra Muhammad
ASHENEWS reports that the Niger State government has postponed the bid submission deadline for the conversion of Shiroro Hotels Minna, to the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Teaching Hospital till further notice.
The Permanent Secretary of the state ministry of health, Dr. Mohammed Gana stated this while speaking in Minna on Monday.
This online platform reports that the ministry had slated Monday 3rd July 2023 for the closure of bid submission.
But when the Permanent Secretary directed the submission of available bids at noon today, only two companies had turned in their bids.
Gana explained that the low turnout of prospective contractors was against the state government’s commitment to making the exercise transparent and open for competition.
“The idea of open competition is to ensure transparency as well as fairness in the bid process. We want both the local and international companies to compete favorably for the project at hand.
“The work ahead of us is a massive project. We said that we want a competitive bidding process and based on this, we have no option but to postpone the entire process because we need more people to apply for the project. These two companies only are not satisfactory enough,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary, who noted that the ministry has constituted an evaluation committee to handle the process assured the bidders that the members would be fair in the discharge of their duties.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Niger State Public Procurement Board, Shehu Jibril said that the state government adopted a two-stage bidding process to ascertain the competence and qualification of the companies bidding for the contracts.
Jibril noted that the government had made a target to shortlist no fewer than six firms after the pre-qualification exercise for all three bids.
The bid divided into Lots 1, 2, and 3 is for the refurbishment and upgrading of executive structures and construction of new buildings, infrastructure, and external works, as well as a bid for equipment and installation.
Speaking to journalists shortly after the program, one of the bidders, Idris Saidu representing Sanjir Excellence Production Limited expressed his firm’s acceptance of the government’s decision.
“We have been in this job for the past 15 years. We have the experience and passion to do good things for the system. This facility is going to be a world-class facility that will be a model for other states.
“In the interest of fairness and transparency, we are okay with their decision,” he said.
Recall that the Niger State Governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago before his inauguration had promised to convert the now moribund Shiroro Hotels to a teaching hospital.
