Government in the coming fortnight will issue a Request for Qualification (RfQ) documents as the next stage of procurement process for the Ghana Burkina Faso interconnectivity project, Railways Development Minister, Joe Ghartey has said.
This next stage of the procurement process will see the issuance of the RfQ documents to the 12 shortlisted consortia for further evaluation.
At the signing of contract for the Transaction Advisory Services on Friday, in Accra, the Minister said, “the issuance of the RfQ documents will be done by the Transaction Advisor in collaboration with the Joint Committee of Experts within two weeks from the signing of the contract today. Thus the necessary documents will be issued to the shortlisted consortia on or before November 30th 2018.â€
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After this stage, government will proceed to the final stage, which is the Request for Proposals (RfP).
The Minister noted that, the expectation is to have the international procurement process completed in 2019 to pave way for the construction of the line to commence in the same year.
The primary objective of the railway interconnectivity project is to facilitate trade and development between the Republic of Ghana and Burkina Faso through an efficient transportation service for both freight and passengers.
Consortium
The Transaction Advisory Services will be provided by a consortium made up of Messrs Vision Consult Limited of Ghana and TEAM Engineering S.p.A. of Italy to provide for the development of the Ghana Burkina Faso Railway Interconnectivity Project.
Transaction Advisors will assist the two governments to review existing studies and undertake further studies, including survey works. They would also act as technical advisors during the procurement process.
Vision Consult Limited of Ghana is a Ghanaian consultancy firm that had already been engaged by the Ministry to undertake consultancy work on the Kumasi to Paga section of the proposed railway network, whereas TEAM Engineering of Italy was the firm that developed the Ghana Railway Master Plan in 2013. Thus both firms, Vision and TEAM had some primary knowledge of sections of the proposed railway network.
Selection of Process
In furtherance of the agreement by the Heads of States from both countries, a Joint Committee of Experts was established in January, 2018 to facilitate the implementation of railway interconnectivity project along the Eastern Corridor of Ghana; that is from the Port of Tema through Ho, Hohoe, Yendi, Tamale, to Paga at the Ghana Burkina Faso border and then continue through Dakola in Burkina Faso and all the way to Ouagadougou.
Following the publication of the Expression of Interest advertisements simultaneously in Ghana in English and in Burkina Faso in French, a total of 16 firms expressed interest to undertake the project on a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.
A Joint Evaluation Committee was formed subsequent to the Expression of Interest which conducted a detailed evaluation of all sixteen (16) proposals received in Ghana and Burkina Faso. The evaluation suggested that 12 out of the 16 consortia can meet the minimum criteria.
Source:Â goldstreetbusiness.com