The government has completed the bid evaluation process of its top priority 1200-MW Matarbari Coal-fired Power Plant Project and sought concurrence of the funding agency to the evaluation, sources at Power Division said, reports UNB.
According to the sources, state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL), which was entrusted with the implementation task, approved both the technical and financial offers of two Japanese bidders for the project.
Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation are vying for the projects, while Japan International Cooperation Agency – JICA -is financing the project.
“After approval at the CPGCBL board meeting last week, the bid evaluation result was sent to JICA headquarters in Tokyo for its concurrence. We hope, we will get back the relevant file from JICA within 15 days,” a top official at CPGCBL told the news agency wishing to remain anonymous.
He, however, said it may take almost a month to sign an agreement with a winning bidder to award the contract of the project as the draft agreement will need clearance from the Law Ministry and some other government agencies.The Matarbari power project has been listed by the government as a top priority one and it was moving to implement the project on a fast track basis.
But some terror incidents, particularly the attack on Holey Artisan Bakery at Gulshan on 1 July that killed 22 people, including seven Japanese nationals, came as a big setback as Japanese bidders were showing reluctance about participating in the bidding process on ‘security ground’.
As a result, the government had to reschedule the bid submission date for a number of occasions and finally on January 31, the aspirant Japanese bidders-Marubeni and Sumitomo-submitted their both technical and financial bids for the project.
The government undertook the costly power project at Matarbari in Maheshkhali Island off Cox’s Bazar coast with JICA’s $3.7 billion loan support. After six months’ delay, now the project is rescheduled to complete its construction work by December 2022.
Officials said Japan has been funding the project with its South Asian strategic plan, titled ‘Bay of Bengal Industrial GrowthBelt BIG-B)’.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the funding during his Dhaka visit in 2014. JICA is providing the loan at an annual interest rate of 0.1 per cent over 30 years with an initial 10-year grace period.
