527 crores worth of pre-paid meters are being bought from Chinese companies

Eight lakh 21 thousand 544 modern pre-paid meters for Bangladesh Electricity Development Board (BUBO). It will cost 526 crore 65 lakh taka to buy these meters

Almost all of the meters will be supplied by Chinese companies. Among these, most of the meters will be purchased from the Chinese Hexing Electrical Company Limited Company. 433 crores 33 lakhs worth of pre-paid meters from the company.

These meters will be purchased for three zones of Bubo under the project titled 'Smart Pre-Paid Metering Project in Distribution Zones of BPDB' implemented by Bubo. The meters are reportedly being procured through three separate tenders. Three proposals in this regard may be presented for approval in the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Procurement.

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According to power sector sources, the project has been divided into four packages to bring smart pre-paid metering services to 1.5 lakh users in four zones (Chittagong, Comilla, Sylhet and Mymensingh) of Babibo. The project will be implemented with private funding from the Government of Bangladesh, Department of Power and Asian Development Bank (ADB) funding.

Within the four packages of the project

•  one lakh 16 thousand 249 modern pre-paid meters will be procured for the electrification area of Bubo Sylhet zone under package PPMS-G-2. Among them, the number of single phase meters is 111 thousand 781 and the number of three-phase meters is 4 thousand 468. An international open tender was invited on August 18, 2021 for the purchase of meters through one stage two envelope method. Four organizations submitted tenders within the stipulated time. As the lowest bidder, the supply of smart pre-paid meters was jointly awarded to Ideal Electrical Enterprises Limited of Bangladesh and Inhimeter Company Limited of China. It will cost 73 crore 31 lakh 98 thousand taka.

According to sources, three lakh 97 thousand 523 smart pre-paid meters will be purchased under the PPMS-G-1 package under the project for Chittagong zone. There are three lakh 87 thousand 574 single phase and 9 thousand 949 three-phase smart pre-payment meters inside it. When international tenders were invited for this package, five tenders were submitted. Three of these tenders are non-responsive. Responsive Among the two bidders, 'Hexing Electrical Company Limited' as the lowest bidder will supply the meters. It will cost 243 crore 63 lakh 60 thousand taka.

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Apart from this there will be 3 lakh seven thousand 772 modern pre-paid meters for Comilla zone under the same project package PPMS-G-3. Out of this, 2 lakh 98 thousand 226 single phase meters and 9 thousand 546 three-phase meters. Five tenders were submitted when international tenders were invited for this meter collection. Three of them are non-responsive. Among the remaining two bidders, China's 'Hexing Electrical Company Limited' as the minimum bidder will supply the meters. It will cost 189 crore 70 lakh 30 thousand taka.

It is learned that if the agreement to buy meters is approved in the meeting of the cabinet committee on procurement, the agreement with the concerned companies will be signed very soon.