Bogra based private power generation company GBB Power Ltd has again kept unpaid bills of Tk 7.18 crore for gas bills and Higher Heating Value (HHV) bills of Pashchimanchal Gas Company Ltd (PGCL), violating contracts between PGCL and GBB Power Ltd.
As this correspondent talked to of GBB Power Ltd Managing Director (MD) engineer Fauzal Akbar over cell phone recently, he said they have failed to pay bills of PGCL for some internal problems.
“I will never pay Higher Heating Value (HHV) bills of the company because PGCL authority has submitted HHV bills violating existing law,” said Fauzal Akbar.
He said he had purchased a Chromotograph for measuring HHV as well as gas composition, which is still kept in store.
According to the contract, 24 Megawatt (MW) capacity GBB Power Ltd has to pay bill within 45 days of receiving the bill from PGCL authorities. But GBB Power Ltd never paid gas bills properly as per agreement since its starting operation in April 2008, said a senior official of PGCL.
The PGCL management had earlier decided to cut off the gas connection of GBB Power Ltd after June 15 for default of gas and HHV bills.
The decision, however, is yet to see implementation, PGCL sources said.
Out of a total of Tk 7.99 crore dues in gas bill and HHV bills up to May this year, GBB Power Ltd paid only Tk 81 lakh, PGCL sources said.
Besides, there is default surcharge of more than Tk 20 lakh.
According to the contract between PGCL and GBB Power Ltd, PGCL has to ensure gas supply of at least 950 British Thermal Unit (BTU) Cubic Feet per hour (CFH) on an average. According to agreements GBB Power Ltd has to pay HHV and PGCL has to pay compensation for lower BTU/ CFH.
A senior official of PGCL said that the company tested hitting value of gas from Bangladesh Petroleum Exportation Production Company (BAPEX) Ltd on February 1, 2010 and got 1064.70 BTU/CFH. On February 16, it got 1066.20 BTU/CFH.