International tender for LNG project on the cards?

After Law Division''s nod, the petroleum ministry has decided to re- tender for liquefied natural gas (LNG) project and the officials hint at issuance of an international tender for it shortly. "After going through all legal requirements, the Law Division has given us a go ahead for a fresh international tender for interested parties to bid for a contract for LNG project," said an official of Petroleum ministry.
With sheer energy shortfall and growing demand Pakistan had conceived an LNG project a few years back. After going through initial homework the government undertook a process for this project. This was followed by issuance of an international tender. Since it was a promising project, the international tender got good response. The world giants like GDF Suez and Shell joined the race to win the contact worth billion of dollars.
Bidding process was put in to select the best available party to award the contact. It was a nerve-breaking race for interested parties. Besides fulfilling the legal requirements to stay in the game, hectic lobbying was done. The parties in the run wanted to secure the contact no matter how and who made it possible for them.
Some parties entered into the game to oust the competitor. The process was inching forward at a normal pace. It was finally submitted to the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet for approval of grant of contact to GDF Suez which was declared successful on the bid money basis. The approval of the competent forum was also granted and now GDF Suez had nothing in its way in initiating the project.
But the contact award procedure was questioned by a court of law and the government was asked to look into the procedure again. The matter was referred to the Law Division for guidance which, sources said, disagreed with the ministry of Petroleum asking it to scrap the pervious procedure and come up with a new tender for seeking bids for LNG project.
The officials in petroleum ministry concede that re-tendering is going to delay the project for months if not for years but they do not have any other option but to accept the Law Division''s advice and go for retendering for the project.