& 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

SMALL POWER PLANT DEALS

Govt shelves unsolicited awarding on WB threat

SHARIER KHAN
As the World Bank (WB) has threatened to suspend all funds on grounds of massive nepotism, corruption and irregularities in the unsolicited small power schemes, the government yesterday decided to shelve the unsolicited awarding of small power purchase deals.
Instead the government will now float tenders seeking the lowest price offers from small power developers, competent sources said.
At a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), chairmen and high officials of the power ministry discussed that the October 19 deadline to award unsolicited power sales contracts to different small power developers will have to be shelved.
The PMO also decided to form a high powered committee to design the tenders for small power purchase agreements. This design will be used
for small power contracts all over the country till 2015, the sources said.
Around 45 to 48 small power purchase agreements were set to be awarded to different ministers and ruling party parliamentarians, sources said. While they know nothing about the power sector, these beneficiaries were supposed to 'sell' these deals to real power developers.
A chaotic scenario prevailed since the government announced the small power deals through the Power Development Board (PDB), Rural Electrification Board (REB) and Dhaka Electric Supply Authority (Desa) and Dhaka Electric Supply Company (Desco).
In July, the government made a secret list of 23 small private power plant builders who will get guaranteed sales of power to the government utilities. But pressure from the 'have-not' group in August compelled the government to increase the number of the beneficiaries from 23 to 50. These deals were being designed on the basis of political wishes, not on the basis of economics or real needs.
The World Bank recently wrote to the government that it is concerned about the way the government is handling the small power projects. It is alleged that these schemes are nothing but a way to raise election funds.
In September, when Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman went to Washington to meet the WB high officials, he was grilled with questions about the small power project.
A source at the PMO said the WB asked Saifur whether the government is so desperate about raising election funds that it has resorted to this kind of power projects.
A PDB source said the small power purchase agreements were violating the government's procurement guidelines.
“There was no set standard for these small power projects. We do not know what kind of machinery will be installed by these developers. Besides they do not fall under the rules and regulations which are followed by the standard Independent Power Projects (IPP),” said the source.
“Most importantly, technically it is very risky to have so many small power plants connected to the national grid,” he added.
A PDB study shows that if 45 to 50 small plants are added to the national grid, a sudden trip of one small unit will cause chain reaction shut downs of all other plants. The high number of plants implies a high level of system breakdown risks.
“In 2002, when (Bangladeshi) Summit Power wanted to supply power to the national grid, the PDB refused that connection on this technical ground,” he pointed out.
The small power projects will also waste huge quantities of gas. A big 450 mw combined cycle power plant consumes the same amount of gas required for a dozen small simple cycle plants, which can jointly produce only 225 mw.
The Power System Master Plan of the government, which works as a planning guideline, does not also subscribe to the idea of electrification through small plants.
“Make a 400 mw combined cycle plant. It will cost less and conserve huge gas. Small power is a stop gapit can not be a model for electrification,” he quips.
Although the government considered the small plant projects as 'political schemes', it expected these to start operation from June-July next. “This is ridiculous. There is no record of any plant completion in less than 18 months,” he added.
Besides, gas supply crunches also make the prospect of small plants bleak. For instance, in Dhaka, Titas gas company has refused to give any gas connection to any small plant due to supply shortfall.
With the apparent intent to 'raise
funds', the government earlier this year approved an amendment of the small power generation policy allowing anyone to install power plants. This eliminates competition and quality.
In August the government declared it has selected 23 locations from where the public utilities will buy power from the small plants. Private investors were asked to submit Expressions of Interest (EoI) to set up small power plants ranging from 10 to 50 megawatts capacity in these locations.