Legal notice seeks review of BPDB, Adani PPA

A has been sent to the Chairman of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has been served with a legal notice asking it to invite Adani (Jharkhand) Ltd. within three days to renegotiate the power purchase agreement (PPA).
Supreme Court lawyer Md Abdul Qaium served the urgent notice on Wednesday, also asking the government to cancel the deal if Adani does not agree to renegotiate it.
He warned of initiating legal proceedings before the High Court Division of the Supreme Court if the government bodies concerned fail to take appropriate steps within stipulated time.
The notice termed the PPA as fraudulent, unconscionable, unfair and against the public interest of Bangladesh.
The government has also been asked to form a high-powered enquiry committee comprising internationally acclaimed energy and legal experts for giving detailed reports on this agreement and to identify the officials involved in executing this agreement against the national interest.
Chairman of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), Secretary of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Secretary of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division, and Managing Director of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) have also been served with the copies of the legal notice.
Bangladesh Power Development Board, a state-owned enterprise, executed the PPA with Adani (Jharkhand) Limited on the 1,496 megawatt coal-fired power generation facility at the district of Godda in India in November, 2017.
According to the notice, "A number of terms and conditions i.e. remedy for breach of agreement by Adani and termination clauses are unbalanced and prejudicial to the interest of Bangladesh even in some instances contrary to public policy.
"The said agreement includes terms that overwhelmingly favour Adani and impose an undue burden on BPDB (Bangladesh). These terms have proven to be economically and socially detrimental, which conflicts with our nation's objectives of ensuring fair and equitable engagement with foreign partners."
It further said: "US-based Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), in a report published in 2018, stated that Adani Godda Power Project is too expensive, too late and too risky for Bangladesh. It further stated that the project was 'clearly designed to benefit Adani' and is, at least in part, an attempt to prop up Adani Enterprises' troubled Carmichael coal project in Australia."

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