Anti-corruption watchdog urges Bangladesh to revisit power deal with India’s Adani group

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - An international anti-corruption watchdog on Friday suggested the Bangladesh government revisit a deal with the crisis-hit Adani group to purchase 1,600 MW of power, describing the agreement as discriminatory and non-transparent.

In a statement, Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) asked the government to cancel the power purchase deal with India's Adani group if it goes against people’s interests.

Bangladesh and Adani Power signed the power deal in 2017 to set up a power plant in the Godda district of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Bangladesh will get electricity from the plant for the next 25 years, according to the deal.

According to news published in the national and international media, the electricity generated from the Adani power plant located in the Godda district in India will cost almost three times higher than the electricity generated in Bangladesh, said TIB.

“Bangladesh’s deal with Adani Power has been considered by internationally reliable analysis to be unprecedentedly discriminatory and non-transparent, and the electricity sector of Bangladesh would become a hostage in the hands of this company,” it added.

TIB suggested a thorough judicial analysis of the terms of the agreement involving experts in the relevant sectors, amendments where applicable, and termination of the agreement if necessary.

TIB's Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman, citing Australia-based Adani Watch, said that the “coal used in the Godda power plant will come from Adani-owned disputed mines in Indonesia and Australia and transported by Adani ships, which will be unloaded at Adani-owned ports and transported. It will be done by Adani-owned railways.”

Again the generated electricity will be transported in the transmission line built by Adani, it read.

“It is also known that Bangladesh will have to bear the cost of this entire process including energy costs, which is unprecedented in the experience of the global power sector,” he lamented.

In June 2015, Adani Power Limited and Reliance Power Limited signed separate agreements with the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) for a combined investment of $5.5 billion to set up power projects in Bangladesh.

The 1,600-MW coal-fired plant, set up by Adani Power with a $2.5 billion investment, is part of the agreements.

BPDB, however, wanted to amend a 2017 agreement to revise it in order to lower the power price and coal price. However, no assurance was made by Adani Power, according to the media reports.

Junior power minister of Bangladesh, Nasrul Hamid, on Feb. 5 told reporters in Dhaka that Bangladesh will get electricity in line with the agreement and there would be no amendment.

After visiting the power plant site in India, he said Bangladesh is set to get electricity supply from March this year.