Orion and its partners Belhasa and Steag under the banner of BON Consortium were given seven months extra time to sign the agreement that was finalised in March.

Under the current regime, Orion has been awarded with the Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover deal with terms that go against the national interest. They were also awarded a multi-storied car park project in Motijheel for a nominal price, management lease of profit making Bangladesh Chine Friendship Conference Centre etc. Besides, the company has been given primary license for airline operations. Orion's executives who own Oriental Bank shares are also accused of defrauding the bank of nearly Tk 600 crore between 2003 and 2006, which executives deny.

The Power Development Board (PDB) gave it the last deadline to sign the LLA for the power project on October 3 and warned of taking 'appropriate measures' if they failed to show up. The 'appropriate measures' in this case would be the encashment of Orion-Belhasas' bid bond of $10 million.

“This is yet another proof that favouritism and corruption fail to deliver anything good for the nation, let alone a power plant," quips a PDB official.

Orion never actually gave the bid that was selected for this power project and it actually submitted its name as one of the two partners of a Japanese bidder Nisso Eiwi, which has the experience to qualify for the power plant project. However, Nisso disappeared from the scene in 2004 and Orion brought in another German company Steag showing it as the lead bidder. The government initially rejected such a gross anomaly, but then with pressure from the 'alternative powerhouse' -- the source of power of Orion --the government accepted and approved the bid in August last year.

This followed negotiations and signing of a set of agreements for gas, power pricing, land lease and project implementation with various government agencies between December and January last.

Using political pressure, Orion also made these agencies include undue concessions in these agreements undermining national interest. These concessions would be worth no less than $70 to 80 million, according to experts who dissected the Power Purchase Agreement for The Daily Star. A number of these concessions will monetarily deprive the PDB.

But at the same time, Orion failed to find any financier to fund the project. As a result, it has been avoiding the signing of the LLA -- which is the final agreement required to start the project. Once Orion has signed the LLA, it is bound by all other agreements it has already signed with the government agencies.

Fed up with Orion's avoidance, the PDB wrote to the BON Consortium at Orion House, Tejgaon on October 1 reminding that the consortium was given letters on the same issue on March 12 and May 23. These letters requested it to confirm the date for signing the LLA.

"Since then about seven months have already elapsed but you [BON Consortium] did not take any initiative to sign the LLA. Under this circumstances we would like to sign LLA on October 03, 2006," it said. "You are requested to attend signing of the said agreement accordingly, failing which appropriate measures will be taken," it added.

But the letter did not stir Orion, which has bagged a host of deals under the current regime.

Orion was trying to bag another power project for a long time. But that project is tangled in a deep legal mess.

In case of the Meghnaghat-2 project, Orion has been turned down by a number of financiers since cabinet purchase committee in August last year okayed its flawed bid.

Following the purchase committee meeting, Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman told the press in August 2005, "We have approved a power tariff of 2.78 cents for the Meghnaghat-2 power project. This project will be completed in 24 months."

But in March 2005, the same purchase committee headed by Saifur rejected the bid. Saifur said they could not approve a bid that was originally submitted by another company.

The Meghnaghat-1 project was implemented by an US company AES at a cost of $170 million and AES charges the government 2.78 cents per kilowatt-hour and will continue to do so for 22 years.

The BON Consortium is apparently a Bangladeshi registered project company. The claimed owners of BON Consortium are Orion Power Company and BN Corporation. Orion Power Company Ltd is a Bangladesh company owned by Obaidul Karim. The company was created for this project.

Presently the country is reeling under a power crisis of over 2000MW. The cancellation of the project that originated from favouritism is going to push the nation into a larger power generation-demand deficit in the coming years.