Staff Reporter :
The Implementation Monitoring & Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry is set to hold a hearing on Wednesday regarding allegations of irregularities in the coal procurement process for the Matarbari coal-fired power plant.
This review is being conducted in response to a plea from an international consortium, which has alleged irregularities involving a faction of the Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) in the tender process for coal imports.
IMED Review Panel-3 Chairperson Faruque Hossain notified the company secretary of CPGCBL’s procurement authorities on Monday.
In his letter, he requested that the Senior Secretary of the Power Division and the Managing Director of CPGCBL send appropriate representatives to attend the hearing. All participants are required to bring relevant documents, including those related to the tender, purchase plan, advertisement, evaluation report, and a written reply to the complaint.
The hearing panel is comprised of distinguished members, including retired secretaries Md Enamul Kabir and Faruque Hossain, retired district judges Syed Enayet Hossain and Nuruzzaman, and FBCCI Directors Abul Kashem Khan and Nadia Binte Amin.
This hearing follows an initial notification sent by IMED to CPGCBL on June 13. In that letter, the authorities mentioned that an individual named Jalal Uddin, on behalf of an international consortium, has applied to the review panel alleging approach to award ineligible venture to get ‘special benefits’ by breaking the rules in the tender process for supplying coal to Matarbari project.
The first schedule for the hearing was June 27 which later re-scheduled to Wednesday.
Earlier on June 11, IMED directed the CPGCBL for not to issue any notification of award in the tender process for coal supply for the Matarbari Coal-fired Power Plant.
An international consortium participating in the tender process lodged a complaint with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on June 6, questioning the transparency of the procurement process. It also applied to the IMED seeking a review of the tender process.
In April, the IMED sent a letter to the Power Division’s senior secretary, stating that the standards were not maintained in the tender process to import coal for the Matarbari Power Plant project.
The authorities held a meeting to negotiate with that company on June 5, which violates the existing laws and regulations of the country, and it is completely unethical and illegal, according to the letter.
The companies that participated in the tender, four domestic and foreign organisations submitted proposals following the proper procedure, but three organisations were initially excluded on the pretext of lack of financial capacity.
Later, a technical committee meeting on May 27 rejected the financial proposals of all four consortia. According to the decision of the board meeting of CPGCBL held on May 31, considering the national importance of the current situation, approval was given to reconsider Unique Cement Consortium’s proposal which was rejected earlier.