DHAKA/NEW DELHI: The Bangladesh High Court on Wednesday halted arbitration proceedings between the country’s power development board and India’s Adani Power ADAN.NS in Singapore on disputes around power supply payments.
The company, led by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, has been at loggerheads with the Bangladesh Power Development Board over pending payments for the electricity it supplies as part of a pact that both sides had signed in 2017.
Adani and the BPDB had early this month decided to go for an international arbitration process to resolve disputes over Bangladesh’s power supply payments.
The court said on Wednesday that the arbitration will remain suspended until the report of a high court-formed committee to investigate the fairness and possible irregularities in the agreement between the Bangladesh government and the Adani Group is submitted.
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The Bangladesh High court last year had ordered an examination of the contract with Adani by a committee of experts.
Adani Power supplies electricity from its coal-fired 1,600 megawatt Godda power plant in eastern India, which meets nearly a tenth of Bangladesh’s power needs.
“If Adani starts arbitration proceedings in Singapore over their dues before the investigation report comes, then the investigation will have no importance,” Abdul Qayyum, a lawyer who filed the injunction petition, told reporters.
The interim government in Bangladesh had accused Adani of breaching the power purchase agreement by withholding tax benefits that the Godda plant got from India, Reuters reported in December.
Bangladesh paid Adani a tariff of 14.87 taka ($0.1220) per unit during the fiscal year to June 30, 2024, higher than an average of 9.57 taka for power supplied by other Indian companies.
Adani Power and BPDB did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
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