The committee headed by former vice-chancellor of Buet Prof Abdul Matin Patwari found various irregularities in the tender process for each of the projects. But these irregularities were all legitimised through approval by cabinet bodies of the past government.

While clearing these projects, the experts' committee emphasised strict monitoring of implementation of these so that the country does not end up having dysfunctional power plants like Tongi 80 megawatt unit.

The five projects are 450 MW Meghnaghat phase-two power plant, 150 MW Chandpur plant, 20 MW Bogra rental power plant, maintenance work of Ghorasal unit-1 and 2 and Karnaphuli hydropower unit-3. Of these, there were widespread allegations against Meghnaghat and Chandpur deals.

The experts' committee members felt that if they recommended cancellation, these power projects would fall at least one year behind the schedule.

"We have found some irregularities in them but their bids were substantially responsive," says Prof Abdul Matin Patwari.

"We have no option but to go ahead with these projects because the country has been pushed into such a grim power situation that we cannot sit on power projects."

Prof Patwari went on, "We have given observations about each of the power deals and we have strongly recommended that in future there should be two separate tender committees -- one will prepare tender papers and the other will evaluate these. This should end scopes for manipulating bids."

Single tender bodies had given rise to many controversies, he pointed out.

The committee chief said they have recommended that in future, the government would fix a time limit for project implementers to complete those. This area should not remain open for delays as delays give rise to corruption.

The committee also felt that the government should have a clear policy about how to deal with different types of projects. "We see that some deals are for three years and some are for 15 years. There should be a clear cut policy to avoid confusion," Prof Patwari said.

With a daily load shedding hovering around 2,000 megawatt, the cost of not having power has now become all time high. And this is due to lack of proper leadership of the past alliance government, and the corrupt nexus of dishonest officials and political beneficiaries who made sure that either they get the power deals or none gets those.

The alliance government awarded Meghnaghat project deal to BON Consortium while Chinese Harbin Power Engineering got the contract for Chandpur 150 MW plant. The 20 MW Bogra project deal was awarded to local firm GBB Ltd. The restricted tender bid for rehabilitation of Karnaphuli hydropower project unit 3 will be held soon.

The Meghnaghat deal went to BON, which is a joint venture of Obaedul Karim, the Oriental Bank scamster, and the UAE's Belhasa group. But none of them is the lead bidder. BON qualified to participate in this tender, which sought an experienced power company, by showing Japanese company Nisso Eiwi as the lead bidder (thus acquiring the name BON Consortium). Then after qualifying, Nisso disappeared from the bid and Obaedul Karim brought in German company Steag as the lead sponsor. But Steag is nowhere in the scene in reality.

"Regarding this, we have observed that when the tender was floated, the Private Sector Guideline (that bars change of lead sponsor) was yet to be introduced. Again, the then economic affairs committee of the cabinet okayed change of the lead sponsor. That way transparency was ensured," noted Prof Patwari.

"We have recommended that BON consortium will have to implement the project with a levelised price tariff of 02.78 cents...," he added.

In case of Harbin's Chandpur deal, where Power Development Board grossly violated its own tender rules to favour Harbin over other bidders and triggered a serious conflict with the government's implementation and monitoring department, the experts' committee members at a meeting had observed that Harbin's performance and dealings were dubious. They also observed that in other tenders, Harbin resorted to trickery to show low prices during the tender and then increase that or delivered substandard equipment.

The committee concluded that Harbin's implementation of Chandpur plant would be strictly monitored, and cost of the project will not be increased.