[sustran] Request for EOIs for Dhaka BRT/Corridor Restructuring Project

[Jonathan Richmond]

We have now requested Expressions of Interest for our Dhaka BRT and 
corridor restructuring project. Please find the message sent to 
prospective candidates plus our advertisement below.

If you are interested in participating in any way, please be free to get 
in touch.

                                   --Jonathan!


Dear Friends,

Please find attached two documents: The advert for our Request for Expressions 
of Interest for a BRT and Corridor Restructuring Implementation Study and 
Preliminary Design Work for the Uttara-Mohakhali-Ramna-Sadarghat Corridor in 
Dhaka; and further information and instructions for those planning to respond 
to the request.

Please note a few things: Our objective here is to try to radically improve 
transport conditions in the selected corridor. Thus, while BRT is an important 
element, it is only one part of an overall attempt to restructure corridor 
operations. We wish to improve traffic management because poor traffic 
management is said to cost Dhaka 50% of its road capacity today, and we wish to 
make the project have broad appeal by providing benefits to as wide a 
cross-section of the public as possible.

So please attend to these overall goals in your reply.

Secondly, please note that this is an implementation study and request for 
design work and not purely a feasibility study. Obviously, anything proposed 
will have to be tested for feasibility, but this corridor has already been 
selected for implementation by the Government of Bangladesh, and so the focus 
is to be on implementing it successfully as soon as possible and to design it 
in preparation for construction. If questions over alternatives arise during 
project work, they will need to be discussed and decisions made. But we wish to 
end up with a plan ready for action and not a theoretical report.

Thirdly, please note the special needs of this project. Government relations, 
communication and strategies to build anti-corruption measures into project 
work are all important. So too is effective urban planning as well as designing 
effective management. And so too is a genuine interest in social equity: we 
want the poorest people of Dhaka to benefit, and see this project as a 
development tool as part of larger efforts to end poverty. So please try to 
think of ways of putting together a creative team that can properly address 
issues that are often neglected.

Up until RFP submission, this is a relatively open process and you are 
encouraged to contact the Project Director, myself, or other appropriate people 
to learn about our needs. The evaluation committee will be looking for evidence 
of your understanding of and sensitivity to the special problems of Dhaka, so 
please do include a good narrative description to tell us about your planned 
methodology and working techniques and to show you have knowledge of the city 
and its issues.

Looking forward to receiving your Expressions of Interest.

                                                         --Jonathan


Please note that I am pasting the contents of our advertisement below. 
Although further details are said to be on the web site, they have not 
been put there yet -- so please email back if you would like further 
details or have any questions!


1. Introduction
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh has received a credit from the 
International Development Association (ida) towards the cost of the 
proposed Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (case) Project to be 
implemented by the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (dtcb) in 
coordination with other government entities, and intends to apply part of 
the proceeds for consultancy services for a brt and corridor restructuring 
implementation study and preliminary design work for the 
Uttara-Mohakhali-Ramna-Sadarghat corridor in Dhaka.

2. Description of Corridor
The corridor runs from Uttara to the north to Dhaka to Sadarghat near the 
Buriganga River at the southern end of the cbd. With loop operation in the 
cbd, brt route length will be approximately 25 km, much of it on existing 
roads suffering severe congestion, with the possibility of incorporating 
some sections of new elevated right of way.

3. Scope of Tasks/Service
The Consultant will perform an implementation study and prepare 
preliminary design and a plan for inaugurating Bus Rapid Transit (brt) and 
improving overall traffic flows in the Uttara-Mohakhali-Ramna-Sadarghat 
corridor in Dhaka city with the goals of improving mobility while reducing 
congestion and negative environmental impacts from transport emissions and 
improving the general quality of the urban fabric and social conditions in 
Dhaka.

The consultants will:

• Identify and analyze alternative options for constructing and operating 
the corridor and develop a conceptual plan.

• Provide market analysis, including survey work; data collection; and 
preparation of necessary forecasts of demands and costs (capital and 
operational) to confirm feasibility and for implementation planning/design 
of brt, other bus services, and operation of general traffic lanes in the 
selected corridor.

• Provide a plan for restructuring existing bus and rickshaw services in 
the corridor to optimize service of corridorwide travel needs and 
integrate them effectively with brt services.

• Recommend and provide design (up to but not including final engineering) 
for physical transformation of corridor facilities to accommodate brt, 
improved traffic flows in general traffic lanes, and safe and secure 
vehicular and pedestrian movements.

  •	Provide analysis and planning/design in the areas of safety, 
parking, pollutant emissions reduction, social equity, land use and 
beautification.

• Develop a plan for operation of the corridor, including institutional 
arrangements, regulation, management, and security/operational 
enforcement. The plan is to include provision for operations of brt, other 
bus services, rickshaw
services, and general traffic facilities.

• Propose a financing plan for construction works and operations, 
including exam­ination of public – private partnership schemes.

• Assess needs for land use relocation planning and prepare a 
land-acquisition proposal.

• Undertake economic, financial, environmental and social assessments in 
compliance with World Bank guidelines.

• Perform such other tasks as will be detailed in the Terms of Reference 
to be supplied to successfully shortlisted candidates following ranking of 
submitted

Expressions of Interest.
4. Qualification/ Selection Criteria
The project director now invites consulting firms to express their 
interest in providing the above services. Interested consultants must 
provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the 
services (brochures, descriptions of similar assignments, experience in 
similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills.
The EOIs will be reviewed on the basis of the following to prepare a 
shortlist:

•	 Registration of the firm

•	 Availability of appropriate skills among staff

•	 Demonstrated capacity to handle such assignments in terms of 
resources


•	 Experience in similar tasks

5. Associations
  Applicants may associate to enhance their qualifications but should 
clearly/explicitly mention whether the association is
in the form of a “Joint Venture” or “Sub-
consultancy.” In the case of a “Joint Venture,” all members must have real 
and well defined inputs to the assignment, and it is preferable to limit 
the total number of firms including associates to a maximum of 3 (three).

6. Selection Procedures
The consulting firm will be selected in accordance with procedures set out 
in the World Bank’s guidelines, Selection and Employment of Consultants by 
World Bank Borrowers May 2004, Revised October 2006.
A maximum of six firms will be initially shortlisted according to evidence 
of their understanding of the tasks to be performed and capacity to 
perform them in terms of appropriate expertise and experience along with a 
demonstrated ability to apply creativity to address complex problems in 
the Dhaka local context.

7. Commencement of Service
It is expected that the service will commence in March 2010 at Dhaka, 
Bangladesh.

8. Further Information
Further details and instructions should be obtained from 
http://www.dtcb.gov.bd or by email to the project director from whom 
background documents are also available.

9. Submission Due Date
Expressions of Interest (eoi) for the above study must be delivered to the 
address below by 5 pm on 9 November 2009. The envelopes must be clearly 
marked “eoi for brt/ Corridor Restructuring Project.”

10. Right to Select/Reject
The procuring entity reserves the right to accept or reject all eois.
Project Director, piu, dtcb, Clean Air and Sustainable Environment (case) 
Project,
Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (dtcb),
13/14th Floor, Nagar Bhaban, Dhaka-1000 Bangladesh
Telephone: +8802-9569262
Fax:            +8802-9568892
Email:          rahman2005 at gmail.com

-----
Jonathan Richmond
Transport Advisor
Dhaka Transport Coordination Board
Ministry of Communications
Government of Bangladesh
Nagar Bhaban, 13-14th Floor
Dhaka-1000
Bangladesh

Phone: +880 (0)1714 179013

e-mail: richmond at alum.mit.edu
http://the-tech.mit.edu/~richmond/