Power Division has sought the central bank's intervention to transfer its funds that remain stuck with the crisis-ridden National Bank Limited (NBL).
Due to a delay in fund transfer, according to sources, the state-backed Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has been facing difficulty in paying different outstanding bills.
The scam-hit bank is said to have owed more than Tk 8.50 billion to Power Division.
The division has asked the Bangladesh Bank to take the next course of action so that the private bank transfers the funds issued advises earlier by the BPDB.
The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) kept over Tk 13.29 billion in three accounts under Motijheel and foreign-exchange branches of the bank.
According to a source, the bank transferred only Tk 4.78 billion in response to a request by the BPDB.
Despite repeated requests to transfer the remaining Tk 8.50 billion against the issued advices, National Bank is not taking any action to this end.
When contacted, a BPDB official said, "The BPDB is facing a setback in paying bills for oil/gas purchase, IPP/SIPP, rental/quick rental, and electricity imported from India due to a delay in fund transfer as per advices issued by the BPDB."
"The BPDB needs money for timely purchase of coal and furnace oil, payment of outstanding bills of gas companies, payment of electricity import bills, and payment of outstanding bills of government and private power generation companies for imported equipment for power plants."
Due to the lack of liquidity capacity of the bank, according to the official, the BPDB has been requesting repeatedly through letters to transfer funds, but to no avail. The bank is not honouring the requests.
Such a significant amount remained stuck with different banks and also with a state-owned agency for a long time, causing immense problems for making payments against gas and electricity and purchases bills, he claimed.
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