Along with the previous two 70MW simple cycle units, this plant built by German company Siemens will produce 210MW power. Siemens was awarded this project on an unsolicited negotiation in 2005 with the aim to complete it within that year.

Against load shedding of around 2000MW, this 70MW project is being viewed as a speck of sand. But at the same time, this is one of the very few projects to have successfully come into operation in the last six years.

The project is three to four times costlier than similar sized power projects of the Power Development Board (PDB). It took US company AES only $170 million for the Meghnaghat 450MW combined cycle plant.

The installation of the third phase will convert the power plant into a combined cycle plant--from its existing gas-fired simple cycle one. This means the third unit will not need any additional gas supplies; it would use the steam generated by the two old power units to generate power.

It had begun test operations from May and has so far performed well. "Sometimes if the gas flow pressure declines, the overall performance of all the units the plant is affected. Otherwise the third unit's test performance is successful," said a RPCL high official.

Energy ministry Adviser Tapan Chowdhury will inaugurate the plant that would be operated and maintained by Siemens for the next two years. The RPCL will then take charge of Operation and Maintenance (O&M).

The cost of this plant has been very high because of corruption by the previous management of the RPCL that was dominated by one Captain Reza, chief of Lahmayer Intenational Palli Power Service (LIPPS) that took all the past O&M contracts of the RPCL without any tender. Captain Reza also unofficially represented Siemens during the secretive tender for the third phase.

The massive corruption spearheaded by LIPPS had affected the financial condition of RPCL to a degree that it was failing to pay Siemens due instalments for setting up the third unit. As a result, the project was delayed by nearly two years.

"Now under a new financial schedule, we have cleared $108 million payment to Siemens. In the next four months, we will pay it $3 million each month," said the RPCL high official.

RPCL Managing Director Md Nazmul Hossain Chowdhury told The Daily Star in May, "The Rural Electrification Board (REB) in a study determined that once we complete this project, RPCL will become financially sound within the next five years."

Meanwhile, the joint forces recently visited the RPCL office and collected documents as part of an investigation into the past corruption led by Captain Reza.

The RPCL is currently fighting a legal battle against Captain Reza at the High Court. Reza has claimed Tk 200 crore "compensation" for terminating contracts with the LIPPS. The LIPPS contracts were cancelled following an incident in which Reza and his men sabotaged the Mymensingh Power Plant in 2005 and fled the country.