The Kyaiktiyo Trustee Association is calling for tenders for the supply of 50,000 gold leaves to service the historic Kyaitiyo Pagoda, in Kyaikhto Township, Mon State, according to the Kyaiktiyo Trustee Association.
Last year, the Yoe Yoe Lay Company received the bid to work for the pagoda, but the service wasn’t adequate. The company did not provide good quality gold, the gold sizes were not accurate and prices went up and down quite often. Consequently, under the Ministry of Religion and Culture’s administration, the trustee committee will call for the tenders to supply gold leaves. The announcement of the tender process will be published in state-run newspapers.
“The Yoe Yoe Lay Company received the bid for the gold supplying over the past years. However, this year, the trustee association will take charge. This will take about a month since the association needs to see whether the quality meets the right standards after calling for tenders,” said U Sein Myint, member of Kyaiktiyo Trustee Association.
It was rumored that the trustee association wouldn’t ask for tenders to provide 50,000 gold leaves but rather offer it to their close friends for 16,000 gold leaves, resulting in the remaining gold suppliers failing to pass the tender stage. However, in response, U Sein Myint, of the trustee association replied “the trustee association has to order from 20 owners for 16,000 gold leaves in Mandalay since [they] run out of supply. People have said the trustee association doesn’t work transparently. Therefore, in response, we will publish this tender in the state run newspapers.”
“It is good to have official tenders. At first, we heard that only the people who are close to the trustee committee will get to enter them. So, I thought the new trustee committee would also act similarly,” said a resident of Kyaikhto Town.
The new trustee committee has set systematic rules for the vendors on the compound of the pagoda, while it also called for bids; it removed the donation contract systems and reduced the price of truck fees over Kyaiktiyo Mountain to the top of Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, also known as the Golden Rock.
The trustee association would instead uphold responsibilities regarding projects for the pagoda, including gold and bell selling departments as well as donation boxes on the pagoda platform and vehicle gates at Kin-Mon-Chaung, at the bottom of Kyaiktiyo Mountain.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Religion and Culture, on September 21, the ministry will take charge of the project’s operation at the pagoda since it discovered the gold suppliers’ substandard quality of gold and their rising prices.
