& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

RPC POWER PROJECT NEAR SAVAR

Corruption alleged in floating tender

SHARIER KHAN
When donors are pressing for freeing tender procedures from corruption, the Rural Power Company (RPC) is allegedly pursuing its donor-funded Savar 450-megawatt (MW) power project using "unfair" and severely limiting tender terms to award the contract to a company.
If awarded to the company, the overpriced contract will benefit a handful of lobbyists and businesspersons and put extra financial burden on rural consumers, industry sources said.
The RPC is the brainchild of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and enjoyed the Bank's support in past projects, but the ADB itself last month brought allegations of lack of transparency in the Savar project and withdrew its support from it.
Partly funded by German financier KfW, the RPC floated the tender a few months ago for Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract for the first phase of the 450-MW Dhaka North Power Project (DNPP) at Kadda, near Savar.
The first phase of the DNPP will generate 280 MW and involve an estimated cost of 150 million Euros.
Although it is an EPC contract tender, its terms clearly bar participation of any EPC contractors.
As a result, the RPC so far got response from only two companies -- Siemens of Germany and Alstom of France -- as the tender's stringent terms and conditions disqualify most other power companies.
The bid documents will be opened on January 26.
The RPC has already appointed
German company Lahmeyer as project consultant without any tender. Lahmeyer was earlier given a 15-year operation and maintenance contract for RPC's Mymensingh power projects -also without any tender -- at a cost at least five times higher than for similar operations carried out by the Power Development Board (PDB).
The ADB went on the record on December 11 raising questions about the way the RPC project is moving ahead. In a press statement,
FROM PAGE 1
the ADB questioned the transparency in signing the contract with Lahmeyer and observed that the Savar project appeared to be an exception among all independent power projects in Bangladesh.
Citing the transparency in bidding of Meghnaghat and Sirajganj power projects, the ADB said: "It appears that such transparency in bidding, pricing and setting output parameters is lacking in the case of the DNPP."
The Savar bid document prepared by the consultant (Lahmeyer) invites "only original manufacturers of gas turbines (no licensees or EPC contractors or joint ventures) to submit bids for the design and other services."
"This clause violates all norms of international procurement including that of the KfW which dictates wider participation of qualified power developers as per certain standards. Ironically, the KfW professes to keep its credits untied, meaning no strings attached," observes an insider source.
In addition, the tender terms require the bidder to also include a bid from an operation and maintenance (O&M) company for a 15-year O&M contract. Although the O&M contract is separate, the RPC requires the O&M contractor to be a "sister" company from the "same country" as the bidder's.
Sources at the RPC and its parent company Rural Electrification Board (REB) said the KfW itself imposed two conditions -- that Lahmeyer be the consultant and that only the original manufacturers of gas turbines be allowed to submit bids.
The KfW is providing 40 million Euros as 'untied' grant -- meaning there is supposed to be no conditions tagged with the fund. The major portion of the fund will be derived from nine REB cooperatives.
"The cooperatives will provide up to Tk 250 crore for the project with the assurance that they will get at least 15 percent dividend," said a REB source.
All PDB projects undertaken through open tenders -- including the Meghnaghat or the bargemounted ones -- have been built either by consortiums, licensees or through EPC contracts. The O&M contracts are typically carried out by either PDB experts or through separate maintenance agreements.
According to industry experts, there are only a handful of "original" turbine manufacturers suitable for such projects. Most turbine manufacturers, even licensees, are interested in selling their turbines and not acting as contractors.
The RPC contract terms also impose other hard conditions to rule out competition.
For instance, while the PDB requires bidders to have experience in two similar size projects with one outside its home country, the RPC bid requires experience in four such projects.
Insiders pointed finger at the local agent of Lahmeyer, who is also the agent of Siemens and was an unofficial agent of Alstom in RPC's Mymensingh power projects.
The agent virtually controls all tender processes of the RPC and the
operation and maintenance contracts, said an insider, alleging that the person might be linked with siphoning out huge funds through overpriced contracts.
REB Chairman Ziaul Islam Chowdhury ruled out any influence over RPC affairs by outsiders or the agent of Lahmeyer.
Lahmeyer executive Serajul Islam also rejected the allegations, saying the company was not involved in any overpriced contract or in any manipulation.
The RPC was originally formed in 1996 as a private-public enterprise with the REB owning 51 percent of its share while select Rural Power Cooperatives the rest.
The company has so far set up three power units in Mymensingh -each with 70 MW capacity. Allegations of corruption and excessive project cost were also made against all the projects, but neither the government nor the donors intervened.
The Savar power scheme earlier created uproar because it did not fit into the Power System Master Plan of the government, meaning that Savar is not identified as a viable power project site because there is no appropriate gas pipeline.
"I don't agree with the allegations of corruption," comments Ziaul, adding, "We are faced with the reality of loadshedding and KfW is helping us build this power plant. The KfW is closely monitoring the project, so there is no scope for corruption."
He however pointed out that the conditions of appointing Lahmeyer as a consultant without bidding and also the bidder's qualifications were set by the KfW.
RPC Managing Director Abdus Sabur says, "We are pursuing the project as per the KfW guidelines and there is no irregularity. If we see that the bidders are asking for excessive price after the tender is opened, we can raise questions. Our present estimate of 150 million Euros is standard."
Serajul Islam, director (technical) of Lahmeyer International Pally Power Services Limited, also refuted the allegations of corruption.
"We are not doing any overpriced consultancy for the RPC," he said. "As a financier, the KfW has set two conditions and there is nothing wrong with it."