Bangladesh: BSRM Wins Bid for Supply of Rebar for NTPC's Rampal power plant

BSRM, the single largest manufacturers of finished steel in Bangladesh, won a tightly contested bid for supply of steel to the much talked about Rampal power project in Khulna district of Bangladesh, recently.

With this BSRM has opened the doors for Bangladesh based steel producers to participate in tendering process for the power project. The 1320 MW power project is being developed under a joint venture, between India's state-owned NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board, titled Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited.

According to a highly placed official of BSRM, "BHEL which has been awarded the contract for construction of the plant had invited bids for supply of rebars for the project in 2017 with specifications that excluded most Bangladeshi steel mills from participating in the tender process".
"These discriminatory specifications were contested by BSRM who claimed that rebar manufactured through the Induction Furnace route in Bangladesh are equivalent to products manufactured from Electric Arc Furnace or Blast furnace route, in strengthen and composition" the official added.

It may be noted that Bangladesh does not have any blast furnaces in the country and just one Electric Arc Furnace operated by Abul Khair Steel. The country almost entirely depends on Induction Furnaces for billet production.

According to sources, the first tender for supply of steel was awarded to Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). The second tender for steel supply of around 12,000 tonnes of steel was subsequently won by BSRM; after intense negotiations with the Bangladesh government and stake holders BSRM managed to have certain clauses of the tender removed which opened up the process for Bangladesh's steel producers.

BSRM officials stated that the company does not use DRI for billet production and depends almost entirely on imported scrap. This helps BSRM maintain strength and quality of its products.

It is worth mentioning that the Rampal Power Project which was initially being seen as a boon to the power starved nation came into controversy after environmentalists opposed the project owing to its close proximity with the Sundarbans mangrove forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Certain groups even moved the court in Bangladesh against the project. It was this controversy that delayed the project. However it was later resolved.