Minister: RCC awarded MVR 631mn council project because they quoted lowest price

Rasheed Carpentry and Construction (RCC) was awarded the MVR 631 million government contract to build office complexes for the local councils of 55 islands because it quoted the lowest price, says Local Government Minister Adam Shareef Umar.

The project in question was originally awarded to Malaysian construction company Hextar Global for USD 36 million (equivalent to MVR 555 million) on January 6. But the contract was terminated six months later, on July 6.

The Local Government Ministry awarded the project to a new contractor, Maldivian construction company RCC, on Saturday. Adam Shareef Umar said back then that the government decided to cancel the original contract because Hextar refused to accommodate changes asked for by local councils.

Adam Shareef told Sun on Sunday that RCC was awarded the project for MVR 631 million, under the contractor financing model.

Responding to concerns over the award of such a mega project without an open bidding process, Adam Shareef said that RCC was awarded the contract after it quoted the lowest price among four companies that submitted proposals for the project.

He said that the Local Government Ministry signed the contract with RCC after it secured approval from the Economic Council to proceed with the contractor that quotes the lowest price.

“This is permissible under Public Finance Regulation,” he said.

Adam Shareef said the process was carried out after terminating the original contract with Hextar.

He said that the one awarded to RCC is a turnkey contract, meaning the company is responsible not just for design and construction but also for furnishing the office complexes, while the one with Hextar was not.

Adam Shareef added that RCC will be building the council office complexes in three designs, with a focus on accommodating expansion based on increase in number of employees.

RCC is required to begin construction work this August, and finish the 55 council office complexes with full furnishing and finishing within one year.

RCC, a family business founded by Abdul Rasheed, the father of Colonel (Retired) Mohamed Nazim, an incumbent parliamentarian and leader of Maldives National Party (MNP), a party aligned with the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC).

The project to develop 55 council office complexes is part of an initiative launched by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s administration to address concern over the rundown state of some of the office buildings currently used by local councils.