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https://theprint.in/diplomacy/10-locos-that-india-gifted-to-bangladesh-were-all-second-hand-but-thats-what-dhaka-sought/473318/
https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/breach-contract-supplier-br-stalls-operation-10-locomotives-2021289
100% Bitter Lesson ! Bangladesh Ignored Make In India | South Korea sent Faulty Locomotives
10 New Locomotives from S Korea: ‘Breach of contract’ under scanner
A South Korean company has supplied 10 locomotives to Bangladesh Railway allegedly violating some clauses of the contract, creating an impasse over the official handover of the train engines.
The locomotives have been lying idle at a railways workshop in Chattogram's Pahartoli for the last four months. It has happened when the BR is struggling to run its operation with a huge number of outdated engines.
The metre-gauge diesel electric locomotives -- bought under a project worth around Tk 300 crore -- arrived at the workshop after they were unloaded at the Chattogram port early September.
Later in its report, a commissioning committee said the technical specifications of three capital components of the supplied locomotives did not match the specifications mentioned in the agreement.
Those components include alternators, compressors, and traction motors, show railway documents obtained by The Daily Star.
For example, the agreement sought alternator model TA12-CA9, but the South Korean company -- Hyundai Rotem Company (HRC) -- shipped alternator model TA9-12CA9SE, according to the documents.
Railways officials said the two models are different in terms of horsepower output.
Besides, as per a government plan, all the rail tracks in the country would be converted into dual gauge within a few years. The government had instructed the BR to purchase locomotives which could be used on both metre-gauge and broad-gauge by changing the undercarriages.
But with the TA9-12CA9SE alternator, the locomotives will not run on broad-gauge, said the officials.
The HRC handed the locomotives also without any pre-shipment inspection (PSI), said the project director Nur Ahmed Hossain in a report.
He also said CCIC Singapore Pte Ltd -- employed by the railways for the inspection -- hid information and "some senior BR officials" joined hands in the unethical activity.
Under the circumstances, the project authorities halted payment for the locomotives, said railways sources.
After the engines arrived, the railways ministry in October formed a probe committee, led by Joint Secretary Faizur Rahman Faruqui, to ascertain whether those were handed as per the agreement.
Then on December 17, the project director (PD), in a letter to railways ministry's Secretary Salim Reza, accused BR Director General Md Shamsuzzaman and Additional Director General (Rolling Stock) Monjur-Ul-Alam Chowdhury of making moves to clear 65 percent of the remaining payment even before the probe was complete.
The Daily Star obtained a copy of the letter.
Contacted, the DG, however, claimed that the contract was not violated, rather the model of the alternator was changed for "design adaptation".
ALL CLAUSES NOT FOLLOWED
The BR signed the contract with the HRC on May 17, 2018 to procure the 10 locomotives for Tk 297.63 crore. This is one of three packages the BR is implementing under a project titled "Procurement of Locomotive, Relief Crane and Locomotive Simulator for Bangladesh Railway" with loan money from Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The aim of the project is to add new locomotives to the BR fleet as more than 70 percent of its train engines have already crossed their economic life, causing difficulties in railway's operations.
During the purchase, the BR hired CCIC Singapore Pte Ltd to check the quality of the imported locomotives as per the agreement.
"But from the beginning of the locomotive manufacturing till date, loco supplier M/S Hyundai Rotem Company and PSI M/S CCIC Singapore Pte Ltd did not implement all clauses of the contract properly," reads a document, which was shared by the project director among officials present at a meeting of the project implementation committee on December 3.
The manufacturer allegedly discouraged a BR team from visiting its factory showing various excuses and when it was finally invited, the Covid-19 pandemic hit South Korea, forcing the project authorities to rely on CCIC for the inspection, shows the document.
The CCIC did not send any pre-shipment inspection (PSI) report before the locomotives were dispatched from South Korea, it adds.
As per the agreement, the HRC was also supposed to supply testing equipment, such as a load box, for the commissioning of the locomotives, but the South Korean company did not hand the equipment.
Load box test is done to check the capability and performance of the engine by simulating the actual working condition of the locomotive at rated output, in static condition. PFx8F2gpxw8 |