Tenders for the import of 1.5 million tons of iron ore will be opened here on June 13. Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) had invited freight tenders for the transport of 1.5 million tons of iron ore, 1.2 million tons from Goa, India and 0.25 million tons from Australia. It is learnt that only 13 pre-qualified parties have been invited to participate.
In the past PSM used to invite tenders world-wide to ensure healthy competition, but now on the instructions of competent authority and involvement of Transparency International (TI), the tender has been restricted to pre-qualified parties. This has given rise to a mafia like situation where only three or four parties will be awarded tender. As a matter of fact there are only five contestants, each participating on the tender under different names to take the number of pre-qualified bidders to 13. One of the pre-qualified bidders described the situation as "mala fide."
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