Sumal perera biography of donald

Ghost deals and gaining 'access'

By Frederica Jansz

idding for tenders involving high stakes for multi million dollar projects has been honed to a fine art by some entrepreneurs.

So much so, in some multi million dollar projects, both the consultant and the contractor are represented by one and the same local agent in stark violation of laid down procedures.

Most of these projects funded by the Overseas Economic Corporation Fund (OECF), the Asian Development Bank or the World Bank have strict guidelines with regard to tender procedure.

One of them being that the Applicant (including all members of a joint venture) must not be associated, nor have been associated in the past, with the consultant or any other entity who has prepared the design, specifications, and other pre-qualification and tender documents for the Project, or who was proposed as engineer for the Contract, over the last five years.

Any such association may result in the disqualification of the applicant.

But Access International, a front line business firm now at the centre of controversy with the PA Government, an investigation by The Sunday Times revealed, has been successful in just overcoming this.

Reliable sources reveal that the awarding of a tender with regard to multi million dollar projects is in many instances a foregone conclusion.

The first step is when the Government of Sri Lanka requests for aid for a particular project.

Thereafter a tender is called for consultants to do a feasibility study.

When a consultant is awarded the contract for the feasibility study and detailed design, the local agent for the consultant company will then approach contractors and promise them that if they agree to work with this agent then the agent will get the contractor the detailed designs for the tender even before the tender is called for.

In this scenario the agent then for the contractor and the consultant is one and the same.

The Sunday Times in trying to ascertain if in fact this is how the local magnate works focused on the recently concluded Samanalawewa project.

The Samanalawewa project comes under the Ministry of Irrigation, Power and Energy.

The civil part of this project is being handled by the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB) which as an agency comes under the Mahaweli Ministry.

The development aspect for this project is being handled by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB).

Samanalawewa sprung leaks and so a process of wet blanketing has been initiated, for which the consultancy was awarded to the Japanese Nippon Koei.

The contractors for this project are Kumagai Gumi Co.

Ltd. and Kajima Corporation.

It is interesting to note here that all the above companies have been listed in the recent brochure of Access International as its international trading partners.

Sumal Perera, Chairman of Access confirmed that he is in fact sub-contracting for Kumagai and Kajima for the Samanalawewa project and has a staff of thirty working on this project.

He denied however that he acted as the local agent for Nippon Koei for this particular project.

In yet another multi-million US dollar deal the Kukule Ganga project, Sumal Perera admitted that he is the local agent for Nippon Koei, who have been awarded the contract for consultancy along with two others, Electrowatt Engineering Ltd, from Switzerland, and Lahmeyer International, from Frankfurt, Germany.

When The Sunday Times contacted Mr.

Suzuki, General Manager for Nippon Koei in Sri Lanka, he asserted strongly that Nippon Koei has never had and does not have a local agent.

When told that the Chairman of Access said his company was representing the Japanese firm in the Kukule Ganga project, Mr. Suzuki denied this aspect, maintaining that Nippon Koei has its own project and liaison office in Sri Lanka and there has never been a need for a local agent.

Yet when The Sunday Times met the Chairman of Access he produced a file on Nippon Koei from which he produced various contractual agreements between Access and Nippon Koei for specified projects.

Apart from Mr.

Perera's firm confirmation that Access is representing Nippon Koei on various projects, including Kukule Ganga, Access has also chosen to advertise that Nippon Koei is its international trading partner in its recent brochure on Access Tower.

The other issue The Sunday Times found puzzling was that Access acting as local agents for the above two projects was unable to produce any documentation to prove that in fact tender procedure had been followed with regard to the Samanalawewa and Kukule Ganga projects.

Mr.

I would not have been appointed by the Japanese as Chairman of Sathosa Motors, if I am an arms dealer. Being a minister of this coalition government, he just plays the role assigned to him. The company has successfully secured and completed a number of major projects for infrastructure development in Sri Lanka. That she does not know whether I am a man or a beast.

Today, with an employee base of approximately 6000, Access operates in the fields of engineering, telecommunications, water, healthcare, education, property development, automotive, power and renewable energy. So we are working towards globalisation for the workers more than for the capitalists.

Since 1964, CMU has never abandoned its commitment to fight for workers' rights.

Q: When virtually everything in Sri Lanka is linked to politics, how can the 30,000 strong CMU make headway if it steers clear of politics?

A: We steer clear of party politics but we have our own position on key issues.

"I am one of the best people for this," Perera said, adding that the offers they make are perfect and are conducted in an absolutely professional manner.

We also stand firm for workers rights such as freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. By far Access has been the most successful in the fisheries, water and defence sector.