Desh Energy Limited in a rejoinder contested some parts of The Daily Star news headlined "Rental Power Plant Tender: Govt considers unfit bidders’ striking offer" published Decembers.

The rejoinder said that Desh Energy Limited and its consortium partners--Bangka TYac Limited and Green Power Limited—are in no ways connected with the Lotus Kamal Group as was described in the report. Bangla TYac is the local Caterpillar rcpresentative/full distribution and service partner in Bangladesh. Desh Energy is part of the Mohammadi Group.

Bangla Trac and Caterpillar alone has injected 20 percent of the country’s total power generation capacity, the rejoinderstates..

With regards to "shopping" around for equipment, the tender process allows every bidder to have equipment available through direct ownership or through commitments made with any equipment supplier. The Greeen Power Consortium has equipment reserved for the 30 MW Bhola and 50 MW Ashuganj power plants through Caterpillar. Our consortium also has immense experience in the sector.

The rejoinder further says, "The article suggests that we as local companies should be 'filtered out’ in the final stage of the bid process." It adds, how can it be suggested that a bidder which has already fulfilled the pre-requisite criteria to enable itself to participate in this tender should be filtered out?

The consortium is also giving huge amount in bid bonds while its tariff offer compared to the nearest competitor Alsthom would save Tk 7 lakh a day in the 50 megawatt Ashuganj Power project. The wide difference of power tariff between the Green Energy Consortium and Alsthom is due to difference in high overhead costs.

It adds, "building a power plant is not rocket science. We have many credible engineers in our country who are able io handle such tasks."

The rejoinder added that foreign partnership is not mandatory in the tender terms, therefore the consortium do not have any foreign partners. "We local companies have the adequate financial leverage and the technical capacity to undertake such projects." OUR REPLY

We stand corrected about the ownership of the Desh Power Consortium, and deeply regret the error.

However the consortium and its members are inexperienced in installation and designing a plant. Representing or assisting Caterpillar is not equivalent to having the experience or know-how of Caterpillar. The consortium members may have facilitated supply of power plant related equipment in the pastit is not equivalent to becoming a power generation company.

Interestingly the Desh Power Consortium is not a legal entity as it is not registered under the Companies Act of Bangladesh. In fact the consortium's document submitted to die Power Cell is a Memorandum of Understanding (MolJ) only applicable for Ashuganj and Bhola tenders. The MoU expresses the "intent" to form a Joint Venture Agreement only if the consortium wins the bids. This

demonstrates the seriousness of this venture.

The consortium also did not specify its experience of "rental plants" of 20 mw or higher capacity during the last 3 years, as demanded by the tender terms. The bidder did notstate the plant's location, capacity, owner, power purchaser or commissioning date.

Both Bangla Trac and Desh Energy introduced themselves as "local agent". But Bangla Trac, a local company, named itself as Bangla Trac/Caterpillar.This ambiguity was apparently used to show Caterpillar's experience as that of Bangla Trac. In the bid document, both Bangla TYac and Desh Energy said they had a 20MW plant in China—without specifying where in China. The owner of that plant was named Caterpillar. The purchaser of the power of that plant is Cemark.

Interestingly Cemark has been also named as the supplier of power plant machinery by another consortium in the rental power bid.

Till date, the Power Development Board (PDB) that spent thousands of crores taka to have new power plants have not set up a plant on its own, and left the matter to professional companies. This is also why. die bidding authorities have specifically spelled out a criterion to ensure its capability and experience. The consortium does not match that criterion as shown above.