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Rental Power Projects

PDB makes partial bid evaluation

Staff Correspondent
Instead of announcing the best bidders for the eight rental power projects within its November 30 deadline, the Power Development Board (PDB) is now finalising a partial evaluation of the bids with the plan to decide on the whole tender in December, sources said.
In the partial evaluation done under pressure from a powerful quarter, the PDB is recommending power company Otobi for two 100 megawatt diesel-fired and heavy fuel oil (HFO) -fired power plants in Bheramara and Noapara, and Rahimafrooz for a 50 MW diesel-fired plant inThakurgaon.
Of them, Otobi had submitted bid documents some of which, the sources claim, were
misleading and false.
For the remaining five rental power plants, PDB may go for fresh bidding for two 50 MW diesel-fired plants at two sites in Saidpur and Katakhali. It could not decide on the bids for Madanganj 100 MW HFO-fired plant. Decisions on Jamalpur 30 MW HFO-fired and Barisal 50 MW HFO-fired plants will be announced soon after the Eid vacations. The PDB Tuesday held a lengthy meeting in this regard.
“The bidding process is reflecting the past practice where bidders were awarded contracts for multiple projects on the basis of suspiciously low offers while the tender authorities refrained from crosschecking bidders' documents showing that they have experience
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FROM PAGE 16 and required machinery in their stocks,” said an official. "But it was later found that they were neither experienced, nor did they have any machinery in their stocks.”
Such practice had given contracts to novice companies like Energy Prima, Venture Energy and Precision Energy during the caretaker government's tenure. All these companies not only failed to implement the power projects in time but also resorted to court so that the PDB cannot penalise them for their failures.
This time the country's biggest furniture manufacturer Otobi along with a Chinese partner submitted documents showing that it had necessary equipment ready for the projects.
As required by the tender terms, Otobi's bids did not provide power plant equipment serial numbers as a proof that it owned these.
Sources pointed out that for Bheramara project, Otobi provided letter of firm commitment from a Chinese company named Tellhow Sci-Tech Co stating that Tellhow owned allO MW diesel- fired power plant, and it has committed to supply that to Otobi for the Bheramara project. But the sources said the plant, which is not in operation for the last one year, is actually
owned by another company named Hui Yang Power Generation Company.
Otobi also provided end user certificate of a Chinese company on a letterhead having no contact information. The letterhead written in Chinese reads Guangdong Guang-Dian Power Grid Group Co. But this company changed its name to “Guangdong Power Grid Company” in 2005.
Someone named Chen Yueming of “Power Purchase Department” of that company signed the letterhead. But there is no such department or person in that company. The address typed below the signature also refers to a different organisation. The contact e-mails belong to China Minsheng Banking Corp.
Denying any external pressure on bid evaluation, PDB Chairman Alamgir Kabir however expressed his hope that the tender evaluation would be completed within this month. The bid process is being delayed as many questions have been raised on the selection process and qualification of certain bidders, he said.
The PDB had repeatedly promised to stick to its deadline for completing the tender for rental power projects to increase power supply from the next lean period.