Long
Way to Go ?
Most
of us listened to the debate in Rajya Sabha yesterday , re Augusta Scam
One
thing emerged , time and again , viz:
Tender
Specifications got " tailor made " to suit Augusta and to rule out
all competition
Now
, after coming into power in May 2014 , NDA government has taken a few steps to
eliminate such " built-in biases " from the tendering process and
make it transparent
While
appreciating that " Negotiation Process " ( after receipt of the
offers ), cannot be carried out publicly , I believe , there is still , a long
way go to improve the tendering process , as per my following suggestion
, sent to Shri Narendra Modiji , on 06 Nov 2014 ( as email and hard copy ) :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAMS ARE AVOIDABLE
!
( blog date : 21 April 2014 )
Early
this week , Supreme Court held that , CAG ( Comptroller and Auditor General )
has the right - and obligation - to conduct an audit of telecoms
WHY
?
>
Spectrum is a natural resource that belongs to the nation
>
Private telecom companies have a revenue-sharing agreement with the
Central Government , for allowing them to " exploit " this natural
- and national - resource
WHAT
ELSE ?
>
This logic should also hold good for all private companies , who are
allowed to exploit India's NATURAL / NATIONAL resources , to create
materials / energy
Here is a partial list :
* Fossil Fuels ( Oil / Gas / Coal )
* Minerals
* Sea-bed Nodules
* River Waters
* Wind
* Tides
* Sunlight
* Sea Water
* Jungles / Trees
* Earth's Magnetism
* Electromagnetic Waves
* Gravitational Force.....etc
HOW
?
*
Tendering process must be public / transparent / equitable
*
Tender terms must be open for scrutiny/comment by public
*
All resource-exploitation licenses must follow auction route
*
Eligibility Criteria must be pre-defined / publicized in advance
*
Licenses should be valid for pre-defined fixed period
*
Licenses cannot be renewed / extended
*
Concerned States must have a share in profit-sharing etc
*
Profit - sharing formula must be part of tenders
*
Any failure / delay on part of the Licensee Company to implement the
Contract , will require return / surrender of the natural resource
concerned , to the Central Government, with appropriate penalties
*
Natural Resource involved , cannot be hypothecated to banks / financial
institutions to raise loans
*
Shares of the licensee companies cannot be traded in open market or
pledged , without prior permission from Central Government
*
CAG Audit will be mandatory and reports must be published
*
Tendering / Auctioning / Licensing must not be handled by any Govt
Department . A separate statutory authority should be created for this
*
To encourage early / fast implementations of Exploitation Licenses , there
will be no Corporate Income Tax for the Licensee Companies
*
Each license will be given only to a SPV , created for this purpose
*
Cost-escalation leading to any Selling Price Escalations would be pre-
defined
IN
HIND-SIGHT
*
Had we followed the above-mentioned process , perhaps , we could have
avoided several scams of recent past and KG-D6 type disputes
*
We could have also avoided ,
# Arbitrary price escalations
# Inflation
# Private profiteering
# Costly litigations
# Policy and Decision Paralysis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.hemenparekh.in / blogs
05
May 2016
hemen
parekh
Marol
, Mumbai , India
(
M ) +91 - 98,67,55,08,08
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