Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) has allegedly been continuing efforts to award a work order to a company that was rejected earlier during the tender process of supplying imported coal for the Matarbari power plant.
An international consortium participating in the tender submitted a complaint in this regard to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday last, questioning transparency of the procurement process.
In the letter addressing the principal secretary at the PMO, the consortium mentioned that all the financial proposals of the four consortiums participating in the tender were rejected without proper evaluation.
Pointing out the irregularities and biassed behaviour in the selection process of the ongoing tender, the letter further stated that in order to reinstate a rejected financial proposal, some concerned officers and board members colluded with a particular company.
The authorities held a meeting for negotiating with that company on 5 June, which violates the prevailing laws and regulations of the country, and it is completely unethical and illegal, according to the letter.
Although some officials of CPGCBL talked about the irregularities in the tender process, the investment firm of a cycle project is engaged in a conspiracy to undermine the government’s image at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), sources at the meeting said.
“The process through which the coal import job is being given will create a very embarrassing situation for the state’s image and foreign investment environment. With the aim of making personal profit through that negotiation, the attempts to give work to the rejected company are going on,” an official of CPGCBL said, requesting not to be named.
Expert calls for re-inviting tenders Last April, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the planning ministry sent a letter to the Power Division’s senior secretary, stating that the standards were not maintained in the tender process for importing coal to the Matarbari Power Plant project.
According to sources, the process of giving work to some project officials’ “favourite institutions” for their personal benefit, ignoring the government agency’s observation, is in the final stage.
In this regard, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, “If all the four companies’ offers to supply coals were rejected, then there was a specific logical reason behind it.
“Their tenders might have been rejected for some reason. Negotiating with a single company that had been rejected is a clear violation of procurement policy.”
The head of TIB also thinks that such negotiations with unqualified companies are not acceptable even according to international standards.
He also said there is room for doubt if they try to give work to a single company after rejecting all the participants in the coal supply tender.
“It is logical to question whether such steps are being taken to favour some ‘special quarters’ through collusion and irregularities. So, such action should be avoided. After re-inviting tenders following due process, it should be decided which company will be given the job of supplying coal,” added Iftekharuzzaman.
In this regard, energy expert Prof M Shamsul Alam said no authority can legitimise an institution from among those which were rejected through executive order for some reason.
“Now their process of giving the job to someone is showing their power, but they have no legal basis for doing it. The tender evaluation committee will consider the companies which can fulfil all the criteria by re-inviting tenders,” he added.
According to sources at the power plant project, the commercial production of the second unit of the 1,200 MW power plant at Moheshkhali is scheduled to start this month.
After starting commercial production at the first unit of the two-unit power plant built with Japan’s financial assistance, its second unit has also started trial production. Experimental power generation of the second unit started from 24 December last year, but commercial production of the first unit started on 26 May this year.
According to the sources at the organisations that participated in the tender, four domestic and foreign organisations submitted proposals following the proper procedure, but three organisations were initially excluded on the pretext of “lack of financial capacity”.
Later, the technical committee meeting on 27 May rejected the financial proposals of all the four consortia. According to the decision of the board meeting of CPGCBL on 31 May, considering the national importance in the current situation, approval was given to reconsider Unique Cement Consortium’s proposal which was rejected earlier.
However, one of the three consortiums which were rejected due to the arbitrariness of the project officials, applied to the senior secretary of the Power Division for re-evaluation of the tender on 29 May. But till now the company has not received any kind of reply.
The initial conditions of the tender required that the contractor company must have experience of importing at least 12 million tonnes of coal, which is a relevant condition for tenders related to importing coal.
But that condition was relaxed for giving unfair advantage to a particular company. To favour the venture, the condition was changed to an experience of importing 12 tonnes of iron, fertiliser, and chemical, cement or food grains, which has created an uneven competition.
bd-pratidin/GR
