Supply of 150 locomotives China's GE willing to re-bid

Chinese company General Electric (GE) has again expressed willingness to participate in the re-bidding process for supply of 150 locomotives to Railways and a tender would soon be floated in the international market, it is learnt. GE was again invited by the government of Pakistan after the Supreme Court disposed of a case on 17th February 2011.
The ministry of railways was directed by the apex court to re-tender the supply of 150 locomotives, keeping in view the specification requirement of Pakistan Railways and invite bidding from all manufacturers. Last year, an international tender was floated by the ministry of railways for supply of locomotives.
Two companies ie General Electric and General Motors applied for the tender, which was supposed to open on June 7, 2010. Meanwhile, an interim order was sent by Lahore High Court not to open the tender.
Lahore High Court stated that the tender floated by the ministry was in violation of PPRA rules and this offer of GE was eagerly taken up by the railways ministry though there was not a single dollar of investment. The whole offer was based on a loan from the Exim Bank. An MoU was signed with GE on February 22, 2010 under which BoI and General Electric Company had agreed to work together and cooperate to identify energy/power, water and transportation projects in Pakistan.
High-level representative of the company comprising Lorenzo Simonelli, President & CEO, David B Ticker, Vice President Global Sales and Ash Nsinor, MD West Asia visited the Board of Investment and met with BoI Chairman Saleem Mandviwala and the representatives of Pakistan Railway on Thursday.
During the meeting, the BoI Chairman informed Business Recorder that GE and BoI had prepared the feasibility studies to restructure the Pakistan Railway. He said," The GE will once again participate in the tender to supply 150 locomotives to the ministry of railways as per their needs."
He added, "We are also asking GE to invest in the restructuring of rail link from Havelian to Khunjrab, rehabilitation of track from Quetta to Kohi Taftan, realignment of track from Kaluwal to Pindora, high-speed double track between Lahore-Rawalpindi, rail link connecting Gwadar Port with Mastung, doubling of track from Golra Sharif to Peshawar and rail link between Zhob-DI Khan-Kotla Jam.