By Lee C. Chipongian
The central bank’s controversial bidding of a P2.6-billion printing machine hit a new snag and the purchase of the superline printer has been stalled.
Sources said the Monetary Board has deferred any decisions that would resolve the issues forwarded by two currency printers which participated in the bidding – Switzerland-based KBA-Giori and Komori of Japan.
The pre-bidding was held last December 4. Sources said Giori was the favored bidder by parties close to the office of the governor however Kimori is not yet out of the race.
The BSP was intending to conduct negotiated bidding for the new printer but the Monetary Board ordered that the transaction be open to a bidding instead.
Giori, formerly De La Rue Giori, is 50 percent owned by German printing company Koenig & Bauer. De La Rue prints the UK currency.
Komori is the exclusive printer for Japan’s National Printing Bureau and for the Ministry of Finance. A team of BSP officials recently visited several Kimori printing facilities in the region.
The decision to buy a superline printer, replacing the 1976 and 1983 printers in the Quezon City printing complex, was approved in 2007. The BSP was supposed to buy a set of printing equipment for banknotes, including an offset press, intaglio press, numbering and finishing press.
...continue reading
No comments:
Post a Comment