BPDB to buy Tk 7.0m car for field trips

FHM Humayan Kabir
The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will buy a luxurious car under a technical assistance (TA) project spending Tk 7.0 million, officials said Wednesday.
Officials said this large expenditure for a Tk 110.98 million TA project will be 'gross misuse of public's money'.
Besides, nearly half of the funds out of the total project cost will go for training, seminars, field trips, office furniture, maintenance, salary payment for the project manpower etc.
The BPDB has recently undertaken the "Technical study for energy security and feasibility study of a power generation project in Bangladesh" to know the future power demands and necessary generation and available energy for electricity production.
"The decision of purchasing a luxury car getting financial support from a small project is really a luxurious behaviour of the BPDB. If the government invests the money in another cost-effective development project, the country can get more benefit," said a senior government official.
He said: "Usually it does not have a provision to purchase car under a TA project with the public money." But the decision of purchasing cars at nearly Tk 7.0 million will really be a sheer wastage of money for a country like Bangladesh, he told the FE requesting anonymity.
According to the BPDB, they would complete the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-supported study on energy security and feasibility for power generation by June 2017.
Project insiders said they would spend Tk 46.6 million for payment to the international consultant and Tk 11.6 million to the local consultant for completing the entire survey by 2017.
When asked, a senior Power Division official said the car is required for field trips to complete the feasibility study. So, the TA project has kept aside the fund for buying the car, he pointed out.
The heavy reliance on domestic natural gas to produce electricity has created a major bottleneck in the government's plans and efforts to add generation capacity to meet the current and future demand for power and provide electricity to many who now are going without it.
The BPDB in the proposed study will focus on techno-economic feasibility of power generation in Bangladesh considering the social and environmental aspects, he said.
A top official told the FE that different agencies and companies under the Power Division now-a-days are in a race to buy cars and vehicles under different projects.
Some power generation projects have kept aside millions of taka for purchasing cars, even up to 12 cars for one project, which is simply a wastage of public funds, he added.
The government is investing nearly Tk 161.21 billion against 66 ongoing projects for the country's power sector development in the current financial year (FY) 2015-16.
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