Wrong Locomotives: BR probing if those can be used

Although two probe committees found that South Korean company Hyundai Rotem Company (HRC) supplied 10 locomotives to Bangladesh Railway breaching the contract, the BR has now formed another committee to determine whether those engines can be used.

The new committee has four members and is led by Prof Muhammed Mahbubur Razzaque of Buet's mechanical engineering department. It was asked to submit its report within 10 working days.

The BR came up with the move although one of the two probe committees had recommended taking punitive action against HRC, and CCIC Singapore Pte Ltd, which the BR employed for the pre-shipment inspection.

"There are some [contract] deviations … We have formed the [new] committee to determine whether the locomotives can be used even after the deviation …" BR Director General Dhirendra Nath Mazumder told The Daily Star yesterday.

Asked whether any action was taken against the companies, he said, "We will take our next action after receiving its [the new committee's] report."

The metre-gauge diesel electric locomotives -- bought under a project worth around Tk 300 crore -- arrived at a railways workshop in Chattogram's Pahartoli after they were unloaded at the Chattogram port in September last year.

In its report, the commissioning committee said the technical specifications of four key components -- engines, alternators, compressors, and traction motors -- of the supplied locomotives did not match the specifications mentioned in the agreement, showed railway documents obtained by The Daily Star.

The project authorities halted payment for the locomotives and the railways minister in October ordered a probe. The locomotives have been sitting in a workshop since then.

A probe committee, led by Farukuzzaman, additional secretary (law and land) of the ministry, submitted its report on February 25. The Daily Star obtained a copy of the report.

The committee recommended actions against Hyundai for supplying locomotives in deviation from the contract and CCIC Singapore Pte Ltd for failing to carry out its duties.

The probe committee report shows that Hyundai supplied alternator model TA9-12CA9SE, but the agreement sought alternator model TA12-CA9.

Railways officials said the two models are different in terms of power output.

Besides, as per a government plan, all rail lines in the country would be converted into dual gauge within a few years. The government had instructed the BR to purchase locomotives which could be used on both metre-gauge and broad-gauge by changing the undercarriages.

But with the TA9-12CA9SE alternator, the locomotives will not run on broad-gauge, said officials.

Hyundai supplied Engine model 8-710G3B-ES instead of 8-710G3B-TI as mentioned in the contract, saying that the engines they provided are "superior" to the one mentioned in the contract, documents show.

They also supplied different traction motors.

NEW COMMITTEE

On March 3, the railways ministry held a meeting over the report of the probe committee led by Farukuzzaman and it was chaired by Railways Secretary Salim Reza.

At the meeting, a representative of the Central Procurement Technical Unit said that as the locomotives were not supplied as per the contract, it should be scrutinised whether those can be received as per the Public Procurement Rules, reads the meeting minutes.

As per his suggestion, the meeting directed BR's director general to form a technical committee to settle the matter.

The BR on March 21 formed the four-member committee, led by Prof Muhammed Mahbubur Razzaque, but a circular in this regard did not mention the deadline for the work, sources said.

The BR issued another circular yesterday mentioning the deadline, they said.

Apart from Prof Muhammed Mahbubur Razzaque, who was member of the previous probe committee, Abdul Matin Chowdhury, additional project director (mechanical) of Dhaka Mass Rapid Development Project (Line-5, Northern Route), Azizul Haque, additional chief engineer (mechanical) of Bangladesh Water Development Board and Borhan Uddin, chief mechanical engineer (east) of BR are members of the new committee.Contacted, Prof Mahbubur Razzaque yesterday said he received a letter regarding the formation of the four-member committee and that they would take the next step after talking with other committee members.