Bangladesh News

Under the influence of a vested interest lobby of BNP leaders, the government is taking Tk 300 crore loans for the rehabilitation of three Karnaphuli hydropower units while two such brand new power units could be set up with the same amount of money.

A full-scale rehabilitation of these three plants should not cost more than Tk 110 crore but these plants do not need such rehabilitation, sources pointed out.

A senior official claimed that rehabilitation of the three plants would actually require around Tk 40 crore to 50 crore. He alleged that of the remaining money, a substantial chunk would go to a controversial bureaucrat of the power ministry, leaders at the ‘alternative centre of power’ of the immediate past government and election fund of the BNP.

The official pointed out that as part of the reshuffling of administration under the caretaker government, power secretary ANH Akhtar Hossain was transferred to a different ministry last month but within 24 hours of the transfer, he was brought back to the power ministry. Akhtar was promoted as secretary from the rank of deputy secretary by the previous alliance government within a period of less than a year in violation of rules. His career does not have any achievements to justify such promotion or reinstatement in his secretarial position in the power ministry.

At present, setting up a brand new 50 megawatt hydropower plant costs between Tk 150 crore and Tk 170 crore.

Given these facts, former state minister for power Anwarul Kabir Talukder had stalled a plant rehabilitation loan negotiation with Italy and Czechoslovakia. Talukder had initiated steps to channel the loan to procure a brand new 50 MW Italian hydropower unit.

He was later sacked, and one of the reasons behind it was that his resistance against the over-priced and unnecessary rehabilitation project.

But late last month, the caretaker government signed a soft loan agreement of euro 14.4 million (Tk 126 crore) with Italy for rehabilitation of the 50 MW unit-3 of Karnaphuli plant.

The government is also set to sign an agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) for a Tk 170 crore loan for overhauling unit-4 and unit-5 of Karnaphuli plant. Both units have an installed capacity of 50 MW each.

On this, Talukder told The Daily Star Friday, “When I was state minister for power, I had talked with the Italian embassy on redesignating the euro14.4 million soft loan for installation of a new hydro power unit. The embassy agreed and we sent a letter accordingly. But before a decision could be reached on this matter, I was removed.”

The Italian loan has been earmarked for the rehabilitation of unit-3 of the plant. Though it has an installed capacity of 50 MW, it never generated more than 35 MW because it was installed in a refurbished condition. According to sources in Power Development Board (PDB), unit-3 was procured in 1971 under a Tk 24 crore US loan. When the plant was brought, the Liberation War had started. As a result, the ship carrying it delivered half of the plant in Yangon and the other half in Karachi.

Nine years later, Bangladesh government took the initiative to recover the plant from Yangon and Karachi but found it was badly damaged. The government then took help from Japan and got the power unit refurbished. The unit was installed in 1982 and it could never generate 50 MW power.

“So it is pointless to rehabilitate such a unit. It is far better to install a new one,” said the former state minister.

He mentioned that he had also discussed with the JBIC for overhauling units 4 and 5, and observed the performance of these for six months, instead of spending Tk 170 crore for gross overhauling. Repair costing a few crore taka is good enough to run both the units, and Bangladesh should consider buying a new unit using the JBIC loan, he said.

A PDB official said the country needs new power plants side by side with rehabilitating the old ones. Power load shedding in the coming lean season will exceed 2,500 MW as the alliance government neglected power sector growth, he added.