Haque Specialized Group's News

Private power plant owners were at their final round of lobbying with the government to bag 'unsolicited' contracts for setting up oil-fired power plants, officials said. The plants are expected to come online before the next summer and supply electricity at higher cost. Power Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) sent Wednesday a proposal to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for selecting nine sponsors to generate some 1,800 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The plants would run on diesel and furnace oil, said a senior official at the Power Division. Sources said the selected owners were busy trying to persuade the government high-ups to ensure that their names are not dropped at the final stage. Some more private power plant owners were also in a 'mad race' to bag contracts, by-passing the competitive tender process. Before the next general election, the government has a plan to generate around 3,000mw of additional electricity by March 2018. The Power Division in a surprise move on July 10 decided to bring online around 3,400mw capacity oil-fired power plants by then. Of the plants, 800-1,200mw capacity would be of diesel-fired with five-year tenure and up to 2,200mw capacity furnace oil-fired plants with 15 year-tenure, a Power Division official said. All the oil-fired power plants, excepting 1,000mw capacity ones, would be awarded on the basis of 'unsolicited' offers under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act 2010. The law has a provision of immunity to those involved with the quick-fix remedies. The 1,000mw capacity furnace oil-fired plants would, however, be awarded through competitive tendering process, said the official. He said the government is set to allow the private entrepreneurs for duty-free import of furnace oil to run their power plants with 9.0 per cent service charge along with import costs as an incentive, keeping the capacity payments provision for the new plants, said the official. Among the proposed nine power plants, three would be of diesel-fired plants and six would be of furnace oil-fired ones. Of the diesel-fired plants, Bangla Trac would build 300MW rental plant at Daudkandi, Aggreko will build a 200mw capacity plant at Noapara and APR a 300mw plant at Keraniganj. State-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is set to purchase electricity at the levelised tariff rate ranging from US cents 25.0039 to 25.417 from the diesel-fired plants, said officials The furnace oil-fired plants include Summit Group's 300MW plant at Kodda, Confidence Power's 113mw plant at Bagura, Midland's 150mw plant at Asuganj, Orion's 100mw plant in Khulna, Acorn's 100mw plant at Julda, and Desh Energy's 200mw plant at Chandpur. The BPDB is set to purchase electricity at the levelised tariff rate ranging from US cents 10.50 to 10.65 from the furnace-oil fired plants, said the officials. Energy adviser of the Consumers' Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Prof M Shamsul Alam said the consequence of the too many expensive oil-fired power plants would be 'disastrous' for the country as it might act as, what he said, a mean for continuous hike in electricity tariff. It seems that the government is 'ignorant' about it and relevant professionals kept them aside of advising the government over its impact, he said. Prof Alam pointed out that the initial plan of 2009 to install such oil-fired power plants as a 'short-term' solution and retire them after initial expiry deadlines and subsequent reduction in tariffs was a 'pro-people' decision. But continued extension of the 'expensive' rental-and quick-rental power plants with capacity-payment provisions and allowing more such plants were going the way of dishonest business people, he said. Prof Ijaz Hossain of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) termed the government as a 'total failure'. It was unfortunate that the government was still in 'crisis-management' mood for power sector although about to complete two consecutive tenures in office. Azizjst@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-07-28 00:00:05

Two policemen were killed in a road accident at Cinema Hall intersection of Hakimpur upazila headquarters of Dinajpur district on Thursday afternoon. The deceased were identified as Assistant Sub-inspector Siddiqur Rahman and Constable Akbar Hossain of Hakimpur Police Station, reports UNB. Abdus Shabur, officer-in-charge of the police station, said the accident took place when a speedy truck hit their motorcycle around 4:00pm while they were returning to the police station after official work, leaving them critically injured. Later, locals rescued them and took them to Rangpur Medical College Hospital where doctors declared them dead. Police seized the truck but its driver and helper managed to flee the scene, the OC added.....

Published at: 2017-07-28 00:00:05

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos briefly became the world's richest man in Forbes magazine's tracking of wealth, as stocks in his e-commerce company hit an all-time high. But overnight, Microsoft founder Bill Gates reclaimed the lead, as Amazon's stock fell nearly 1 per cent for the day to $US1,046. THE TOP 10 Bill Gates — Microsoft Jeff Bezos — Amazon Amancio Ortega — Zara Warren Buffet — Berkshire Hathaway Mark Zuckerberg — Facebook Carlos Slim Helu — Telecom (Mexico) Larry Ellison — software mogul Michael Bloomberg — Bloomberg LP Berard Arnault — LVMP The Koch Brothers Amazon shares have been trading at a record high. They hit $US1,083.31 at about noon on Thursday (local time). According to securities filings, Mr Bezos owns about 80 million shares, or 17 per cent. Those shares were valued at more than $US87 billion at the peak. Mr Bezos also owns The Washington Post through a holding company. Forbes said Mr Bezos' net worth was about $US90.6 billion when the market opened on Thursday. Mr Gates had $US90.1 billion. Forbes said Mr Gates would have been the undisputed leader had he not given billions of dollars away to various philanthropic causes. Mr Bezos issued a request for philanthropic ideas in a tweet in June, just before Amazon announced a $US13.7 billion deal for organic grocer Whole Foods. The changes in Mr Bezos' fortune coincided with Amazon's quarterly earnings report. Shares fell another 2 per cent in after-markets trading as the company reported net income of $US197 million, or 40 cents per share, in the second quarter, down from $US857 million, or $US1.78 per share, a year ago. Revenue grew 25 per cent to $US38 billion, compared with $US30 billion.   ....

Published at: 2017-07-28 00:00:04

Counterterrorism officers have arrested Aslam Hossain Rashed, a key suspect of the Holey Artisan attack, in the northwestern district of Natore.  Rashed who operated under the alias Rash, was arrested from a bus stand at Singra at 5:30am on Friday, said Monirul Islam, the head of police's counterterrorism unit.     The suspect belongs to the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh or JMB's revived faction, known to police as the Neo-JMB, said Islam, reports bdnews24.com. "We are bringing Rashed aka Rash from Natore to Dhaka. He will be taken to court and shown arrested in the café attack case."   The early morning raid headed by the counterterrorism unit was also joined by officers of the police headquarters' Lawful Interception Centre as well as district police personnel in Bogra and Natore. Bangladesh witnessed its deadliest terror attack when five gunmen stormed the upscale Holey Artisan Bakery and O'Kitchen inside Dhaka's diplomatic district on Jul 1 last year. The overnight siege of the Gulshan café left 20 diners dead, 17 of them foreigners. Two police officials died during their operation. The gunmen were eventually shot dead by commandoes.  Police on the first anniversary of the attack said it needed to capture five more terrorists before submitting the chargesheet for its investigation. Of the five, capturing Rashedul Islam aka 'Rash', Soheil Mahfuz, and Basharuzzaman aka 'Chocolate' was vital, counter-terror chief Monirul had said.   ....

Published at: 2017-07-28 00:00:04

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested three suspected members of Neo JMB's 'Sarwar-Tamim' group from different parts of the Jhenaidah district on Thursday. The arrestees are Rana Hossain, 25, son of Amirul Islam, Monwar Hossain, 30, son of Mujibor Hossain of Sadar upazila, and Ashraful Alam, son of Shohor Ali of Kotchandpur upazila, reports UNB. Tipped off, a team of RAB-6 conducted separate drives in Sadar and Kotchandpur upazilas and arrested them around 5:00pm, said Major Manir Ahmed, Company Commander of Jhenaidah RAB-6. Later, they were produced before the Senior Judicial Magistrate SM Maniruzzaman where they made their 'confessional' statements under section 164.....

Published at: 2017-07-28 00:00:04