Bangladesh News

The advisers’ committee on public purchase yesterday approved a bid for the 50 MW Ashuganj rental power project to be awarded to local Green Power Ltd.

With this approval, the total number of rental power projects undertaken by the caretaker government stands at sevenwith a total generation capacity of 250 MW.

The tenders for eight rental power schemes were floated late last year with a view to minimise the power crisis in the upcoming lean period in April. Six had been approved till yesterday, most of which were given to Hosaf. The seventh one was approved yesterday after a second round of tender. The eighth scheme, one for Fenchuganj, remains to be awarded.

Green Power has offered a rental of 4.78 US cents per kilowatt hour (Kwh) in this bid. The other bidder Energy Prima of Hosaf group had offered 5.45 cents.

The government is willing to pay a higher price for rental power than power from conventional power plants to ensure that these start operation from April.

Chaired by finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam, the committee yesterday also approved purchase of 6600 power distribution transformers for the Rural Electrification Board (REB) under the ninth REB distribution line expansion project.

Under a grant from the DFID, the US$ 3.96m contract was awarded to Technoventure Ltd. The tender was floated in September last year in which four contractors participated.

The committee was supposed to consider the approval of a 150 MW combined cycle power project in Sylhet. The power ministry sought approval to award the contract to Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) of India at a price of US$ 68m, but withdrew the proposal at the last moment for more clarifications.

The committee has approved a health ministry proposal to appoint a consultant for smooth implementation of the Health, Nutrition and Population Support Programme (HNPSP). EPOS Health Consultant, a German consultant, has been assigned the job at a cost of around Tk 7 crore.

The committee also approved a Tk 14 crore land-filling project under the home ministry. This project is being implemented in Keraniganj to construct a new jail complex.