DPDC’s network strengthening project crawls

• The project deadline expired six months ago
• 70% work of the project yet to be completed
• Time extended by two and half years till June 2024

A project – undertaken to resolve frequent power cuts in the Dhaka South City Corporation and adjacent Narayanganj – saw only 30% progress in the past six years as its original deadline expired in December last year.

As a common practice, the "Expansion & Strengthening of Power System Network" project has received an extension for two and half years till June 2024.

But insiders at the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), which took the project in 2016 to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the areas, said that the work would not be completed even within the extended timeframe.

Electricity consumers in the areas often face power supply cuts following a failure at a substation and transformer in the distribution network, and in order to solve the problem, the DPDC took the project, which was scheduled to be completed in December last year.

Engineer Bikash Dewan, managing director at DPDC, blamed the Covid-19 outbreak for the delay in implementation of the $1,650.51 million project financed by Chinese Exim Bank.

"Chinese firm Tebian Electric Apparatus (TBEA) Co Ltd is the contractor of the project. But Covid-19 broke out soon after the project had started. Therefore, engineers from China could not arrive in Bangladesh and required equipment could not be brought in," he added.

"Now the project is being implemented at a good pace," Engineer Bikash Dewan told The Business Standard. 

As per the financial condition, the project was awarded to the Chinese Tebian Electric Apparatus (TBEA) Co Ltd through an unsolicited procurement method.

The work scope of the project includes around ten components. The large function of the project is to construct 40 sub-stations and boost the capacity of existing 12 sub-stations.

The project also includes a Scada (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) automation system, a modern training system and machined warehouse.

Along with the above functions, the project was also designed to construct a 653km 132kV and 700km 33kV underground cable line.

As of now, only 30% of the work on the project has been implemented. Out of a total of 52 sub-stations, the authorities could start the work of 32 sub-stations.

Therefore, insiders at DPDC feared that it would not be possible to complete the project even within the extended period.

Apart from the delay, there is an allegation regarding the cost of the project. Insiders at the Power Division said that the project was designed at a 30% higher cost than the regular market price.

Engineer Bikash Dewan, however, denied the allegations, claiming that the project cost is comparatively less than the requirement.

DPDC is one of the six power distribution companies in the country that supply the electricity in the southern part of Dhaka and Narayanganj city.

At present, it has around 15.38 lakh various types of consumers.