City bus operation awarded on basis of ‘verbal’ contract
The Chinese-owned company that began operating Phnom Penh’s new public bus service Wednesday secured its five-year deal on the basis of a verbal agreement and has not yet signed a formal contract with City Hall, the company’s CEO said. Lim Andre, the CEO of Global (Cambodia) Trade Development, which also operates Phnom Penh metered taxi service Global Taxi, said that the deal will see his company invest $12 million over five years, with an initial $4 million outlay in the first year. … Mr. Andre also confirmed City Hall’s admission on Tuesday that there had been no formal bidding process to select a public bus operator and said his company had been chosen because it was judged to have the best proposal. He added that Global Trade Development does not expect to see a profit from the bus contract for at least three years. Initially, in early 2013, his company withdrew its proposal to run the bus system after learning City Hall had asked it to share the contract with another company, South Korean-owned City Trans Cambodia. … City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said Wednesday that his comments earlier on Tuesday that there was no formal bidding process for the bus contract did not amount to a lack of transparency. “We did act with transparency,” he said, declining to elaborate and adding that he was too busy to comment on other aspects of the bus deal. …
Simon Henderson and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-bus-operation-awarded-on-basis-of-verbal-contract-53627/
