Who becomes the next leaseholder of Gabtoli cattle market after Dipjol?

The tender for the lease of the Gabtoli cattle market has been cancelled, according to the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).

The DNCC cited "procedural errors" as the reason behind the move.

Confirming the cancellation on Tuesday, Mohammad Ejaz, the administrator of the city corporation, said: “The tender has been cancelled due to procedural errors by the highest bidder. A fresh tender will be invited.”

The Gabtoli permanent livestock market, leased annually at the start of each Bengali year, typically begins its tendering process a month in advance.

The lease, valid for one year, serves as a major revenue stream for the city corporation.

This year, tenders were invited on Mar 3 for the lease covering the Bengali year 1432.

The deadline for submission was Mar 19, with the tenders opened later that day.

Arat Motors submitted the highest bid, offering Tk 222.5 million, approximately Tk 50 million more than last year’s winning bid.

Irregularities, however, surfaced among the five bidding companies.

Officials reported that one company submitted a forged pay order, while two others failed to include any pay orders at all.

Arat Hanif, the owner of Arat Motors, told bdnews24.com that his company had not yet received any work order from the city corporation.

He added that they were unaware of any official decision regarding cancellation or re-tendering.

The lease was held by actor and film promoter Monowar Hossain, popularly known as Dipjol.

Dipjol had submitted a formal application on Sunday to return control of the cattle market to the city corporation, in line with rules requiring handover on the first day of Boishakh, the first month of the Bengali calendar.

Despite the application, a DNCC official told bdnews24.com that the former lessee left the site without completing the official handover, prompting hundreds of people to enter the market and begin collecting money on Monday night.

The official added that DNCC staff could not intervene at night due to security concerns.

Ejaz said, “The previous lessee left without handing over the cattle market and left. Then our people took over.”

He clarified that those currently managing the cattle market are affiliated with the city corporation, and that the disruption was due to a "misunderstanding”.

When asked about the timeline for issuing a new tender, Ejaz said: “It will take time. Until then, we will run it.”

Addressing the procedural flaws, he said: “According to the rules, in the case of cattle market, if the tender is over Tk 10 million, there is a provision to post it on the website of the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority. That was not followed.”

He also added that “some other irregularities have been detected”.

Yet, a city corporation official said that the omission of the online posting is not the responsibility of the bidding companies, but rather of the city authorities.

He also stated that, to his knowledge, the corporation had never previously followed the practice of publishing such tenders on the procurement authority’s website.

HOW MANY TENDERS WERE SUBMITTED?

This year, the lease price for the Gabtoli cattle market was set at over Tk 146.1 million.

The figure was determined in accordance with existing policy, which calculates the new rate by averaging the lease prices from the past three years and then applying a six percent increase.

In the previous Bengali year, 1431, the market was leased for nearly Tk 171.2 million.

That bid had secured the work order for the year.

Officials familiar with the process note that while Gabtoli is a permanent market, lease prices typically spike ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, when demand for livestock surges.

This year, the holiday is expected to fall in the first half of June.

Five companies submitted tenders within the stipulated deadline.

Arat Motors emerged as the highest bidder, offering Tk 222.5 million.

The second-highest bid came from SF Corporation, which offered Tk 216.5 million.

Rayyan Enterprise followed with a bid of Tk 146.5 million.

A company named The Cement Joint placed a bid of Tk 146.3 million, while Abu Bakr Siddique submitted the lowest bid at Tk 146.3 million.

However, both The Cement Joint and Abu Bakr Siddique failed to submit the required pay orders and were therefore disqualified from the process.

A DNCC official claimed that SF Corporation, the second-highest bidder, had submitted a fake pay order. Verification procedures revealed the irregularity, leading to the company’s elimination.