The Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) appears to be playing a game of hide-and-seek when it comes to disclosing the full details of a controversial substandard coal consignment.
Official sources have confirmed that the company quietly unloaded 40,000 metric tonnes (MT) of allegedly adulterated coal on June 3, just a day after the national budget session, avoiding public and media scrutiny.
According to insiders, the entire consignment was unloaded without separating the adulterated portion from the rest. The ship left the Matarbari jetty immediately after completing the unloading, they said.
What raises further questions is that, as of now, the unloaded coal has not been entered into the company’s official inventory, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Repeated attempts by Just Energy News to contact CPGCBL’s Managing Director for a comment went unanswered.
When reached for clarification, Kazi Md Miraj Hossain, Company Secretary of CPGCBL, claimed ignorance about the unloading. “I knew nothing about the unloading of the particular coal. Please try to communicate with Deputy General Manager (Commercial) HM Nuruzzaman Miah,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that the company had decided to proceed with unloading the coal “under certain conditions.”
This development follows an earlier incident in which CPGCBL unloaded 22,000MT of coal from the same consignment, which had already come under scrutiny for suspected adulteration.
The lack of transparency around the latest unloading raises serious concerns about accountability and operational integrity at CPGCBL, especially given the implications for energy production and environmental safety.
The Singapore-flagged vessel Orient Orchid, which has returned to Matarbari port after being anchored for 62 days in the Moheskhali deep sea on May 28, 2025.
The coal had previously been rejected on March 21 due to quality concerns then, officials confirmed.
The shipment was imported for the 1,200MW ultra-supercritical Matarbari Coal-Fired Power Plant through a joint venture between Unique Cement Industries Limited (UCIL), a concern of Meghna Group, and Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Global Trading (Singapore) Pte. Ltd (AGBT).
The joint venture has now requested CPGCBL to unload the coal after removing substandard materials. “We have allowed them to deliver the coal without payment, contingent upon receiving a compliance certificate from BUET,” said a CPGCBL official on condition of anonymity.
However, payment will only be made after assessing the operational losses caused by the shipment’s rejection.
The scandal came to light when the 11th coal shipment, containing 62,000 tonnes, arrived on March 19 and was found to contain unusual stones, mud, and reddish materials.
According to Kazi Md. Miraj Hossain, Company Secretary of the Matarbari Power Plant, the coal also had high water content and large foreign materials, which disrupted plant operations and posed a risk to critical equipment.
“The coal’s water content increases boiler consumption, while large foreign particles disrupt the conveyor scraper, unloader, and screen operation,” he stated in a letter to the Power Division.
The project’s EPC contractor warned that using the substandard coal could void the plant’s warranty. A CPGCBL proposal to manually remove the foreign materials was deemed impractical due to the plant’s unloading system design.