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Kathmandu Thursday March 29, 2001 Chaitra 16, 2057.
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Half-baked report
Ihave the following observations to make with
reference to your front-page news item entitled "NRB’s move could cost Rs 500 m
more to govt" (Tuesday March 27, 2001).
To put the record straight, I would like to
inform your readers that the Request for Proposals as set out in the World Bank Standard
Bidding Documents for proposed consultancies to be financed by the World Bank include an
inductive figure for "man-month" inputs to reflect the magnitude and scope of
work. Should a short-listed candidate have any query related to these indicative figures,
it is routine for the borrower to clarify, correctly if necessary), and copy its response
to all short listed candidates as well as to make an appropriate extension in deadline to
allow all short-listed candidates to make modifications in their proposals, if there is
any. The World Bank is not a party to communications of this nature between the borrower
and the short-listed candidates. And there is certainly no scope for "strong
lobbying" as your report suggests.
In this case, the borrower was simply
responding to a query from a short-listed candidate and allowing a legitimate extension of
two weeks to the deadline for the submission of proposals.
To blame events on "pressure" from
the World Bank is quite convenient. Incidentally, the World Bank officials did not refuse
to comment on the issue, as your report states. When I was contacted, I asked your
reporter for some time to look into the facts. I was not contacted again, and I am rather
dismayed to see that a half-baked story could still make it to the front page of a
newspaper of your standing. Your readers deserve better than that.
Rajiv Upadhya
Sr External Affairs Specialist |
