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Govt in a fix over fixing Tata electricity tariffs

UNB, Dhaka
Government authorities are still in a fix over the fixing of tariffs of electricity to be purchased from the proposed power plant of Tata, although the Indian industrial giant has been invited to start second-round negotiations on its investment in Bangladesh.
The company has proposed to develop a 1000-megawatt power plant of two separate units, each having 500-MW capacity.
As per the proposal, the government has to purchase entire electricity from one unit while the Tata will consume electricity of the other unit. Now, the authorities appeared to be rambling round the moot question as to what the rate of tariffs of the electricity from the Tata-sponsored project would be and on what basis that should be fixed.
The existing "Private Sector Power Generation Policy" declared in 1996 provides a guideline for deciding price of electricity generated by private plants, and that's through bidding process.
The same policy, however, allows accepting unsolicited offer but does not stipulate anything for fixation of power tariffs for such unsolicited plants.
Of late, the government has formulated another policy entitled "Bangladesh Private Sector
Infrastructure Guidelines" to deal with private investment proposals.
But neither of the policies does provide any specific guideline for rating electricity prices of unsolicited projects. Instead, both the guidelines provide for resolving any government procurement proposal through international bidding.
Such an opaque position left the government negotiators in a dilemma as to how they would determine the electricity tariffs for the Tata project.
An official who is a member of the government negotiation committee admitted to their getting caught in a quandary over determining the electricity tariffs.
"We are really in an odd position since we don't have any specific guideline or any experience of dealing with unsolicited project," he told the news agency on condition of anonymity.
In the past, the government used to purchase electricity from any private project through bidding process. So far, seven private operators, known as independent power producers (IPPs), have installed their plants through participating in such competitive bidding.
In the process, the government would pick and choose the IPPs offering the lowest tariff rate among their competitors. The IPP tariffs do not tally--they vary from one
another. But since the project of Tata is considered unsolicited, there is no scope for competition.
Initial study reveals that the government has to purchase electricity worth between Tk 30,000 crore and Tk 35,000 crore from the gigantic Tata project in 25 years' tenure even if the rate is fixed as the lowest ever -- 2.73 US cents per unit -- offered for the 360-MW Haripur plant. US-based company AES has set up the plant.
"If the tariff is fixed at a higher rate, then the government has to spend a bigger amount to buy electricity from Tata plant," said the official.
Sources said the Board of Investment (BoI) on Tuesday sent an invitation letter to the Indian Tata Group for initiating "conclusive negotiations" from July 2 on a $2.5 billion investment deal to set up steel, power and fertiliser industries.
About the fixation of electricity tariffs, BoI Executive Chairman Mahmudur Rahman, however, said there would be no problem in settling the issue.
He said the tariffs for underconstruction 250-MW Barapukuria coal-fired power project could be an option on the basis of which the rate for Tata power could be determined since both are coal-based.