Matarbari Power Plant: CPGCBL now in controversy over dry ash tender

It seems that the Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) is a walking controversy as it now faces allegations of widespread anomalies in the tender process for selling dry ash produced from used coal in the Matarbari Power Plant, after irregularities in the tender for supplying coal for the power plant.

A quarter of dishonest officials is trying to award the tender to the lowest bidder though the job is supposed to be given to the highest bidder for the sale of dry ash, according to the project sources.

"The tender process has been kept lingering for 10 months to make it sure that the consortium, which was declared disqualified in the initial selection due to the lack of transparency in the financial statements, gets the work," an official related to the project told media.

Sources informed that the son of a member of the tender evaluation committee is associated with a company of the particular consortium. "Some members of the committee are biased towards the institution in exchange for financial benefits," added the official.

The son of the CPGCBL director introduces himself as a 'closed person’ of the state minister for power and energy while sometimes claiming closed one to the family of the prime minister to enjoy privilege during the tender process.

CPGCBL officials said such fraudulence is tarnishing the image of the government.

An officer who takes benefit from the consortium influenced the CPGCBL Board in April to declare the consortium eligible without considering the report of the technical committee. 

However, the board directed the technical committee to re-evaluate the tender without taking any final decision in this regard. Although the tender period has already expired, CPGCBL sent a letter in April requesting to extend the period.

The financial proposals of the participants will be opened immediately after the technical evaluation committee submits its report as per the guidelines of the tender. 

However, the respective CPGCBL officer, taking personal advantage, continued exerting influence to favour a 'special' consortium without opening all the financial proposals.

The opinions of a low-grade staff were taken without consulting the tender evaluation tribunal of the Bangladesh Public Procurement Authority (BPPA) under the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the Planning Ministry.

The project financer – Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) -- was also not informed of the issue, making the entire tender process questionable due to the fraudulence of the CPGCBL official.

The initial conditions of the tender required that the contractor company must have experience in importing at least 12 million tonnes of coal, which is a relevant condition for tenders related to importing coal.

But the conditions were relaxed for giving an unfair advantage to a particular company. To favour the venture, the conditions were changed to an experience of importing 12 tonnes of iron, fertiliser and chemical, cement or food grains.

Apart from the anomalies in the tender process of coal supply, CPGCBL procured 19 pieces of small tools such as hammers, metal pipe cutters and silicon guns at Tk2.75 crore for the power plant in January.

In the much-talked-about shipment, the price of two Germany-made hammers was shown to be Tk1.82 lakh. Similarly, the price of two pipe cutters made by the same German company was shown as Tk92.99 lakh.