The government's top policymakers on power have been briefed on a meeting the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board recently held with a visiting team of Adani Group to discuss the coal pricing issue in its power purchase deal with the Indian conglomerate.
Sources familiar with the matter on Tuesday said BPDB officials briefed Prime Minister's Energy Advisor Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and other top policymakers on the outcomes of the meeting with Adani Group, reports UNB.
“BPDB Chairman Mahbubur Rahman and some top officials went to the office of the advisor at the PMO in the morning and stayed there until 4pm on Tuesday,” a source said.
However, none of the officials of the BPDB was willing to share any detail on the issue.
Tawfiq-e-Elahi also could not be reached over the phone for comment.
A five-member team from Adani Group came to Dhaka on February 23 and held a meeting with top BPDB officials to resolve the issues on the "coal pricing mechanism of the power purchase agreement (PPA).”
A chief executive and a chief procurement officer of Adani were among the five-member delegation while one official from Adani's Dhaka office also joined the meeting that lasted more than an hour, the source told UNB without mentioning their names.
A number of BPDB officials including the member (company affairs) and the member (finance) were present at the meeting, it said.
The issues discussed at the meeting were kept secret citing sensitivity on both sides.
Bangladesh sources said both sides heard each other and presented their respective points.
"But both sides expressed interest in continuing the discussion,” said the sources, adding that Adani's representative informed them that they would communicate the BPDB's stance on the coal pricing mechanism of the PPA to their top management and they will sit in more follow-up meetings.
"Adani officials are convinced by the BPDB's points on the issue,” said the official requesting anonymity.
"We are hopeful that Adani will finally accept Bangladesh's request for revising the PPA to set a new coal pricing mechanism,” he said.
Following the meeting, the Adani team also met with the BPDB chairman and Power Secretary Habibur Rahman separately.
BPDB officials said the top policymakers of the government will now take the final decision on the matter of "amending/adjusting the coal pricing mechanism of the PPA.”
They also said that they are hopeful of receiving electricity from Adani's 1,600MW Godda power plant in Jharkhand from any time in March.