"We have not been informed of such a decision which may be considered by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO)," chief of Summit group Aziz Khan said yesterday. "We are waiting for the last minute clearance of the project for which we have worked hard for months."

"The World Bank has scrutinised the project and has assured $116 million lending through two of its affiliates. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) also agrees on $70 million. Besides, other financiers including the City Bank, NA, have also shown interest," Aziz Khan noted while talking to the press at his office.

"For us these are all signs of confidence given to us by these world class financial institutions. Their confidence also indicate that the project is sound and transparent," Khan added.

Summit was the lone bidder in the tender floated by Power Development Board (PDB) in mid-2003. However, as Summit's offer asked for a 22-year levelised power tariff of US cents 2.7895 per kilowatt hour or unit which is one of the lowest tariff the PDB picked the company.

This bid suggested the PDB will hold 40 percent equity in the project by providing land for the power plant while the private operator will arrange the finance. Previously the PDB held 10 per cent equity in both Meghnaghat and Haripur projects.

The PDB had earlier floated tender for the project but got similar low response due to global recession and also because of investors' lack of confidence in a post September 11 global situation.

Afterwards the energy ministry scrutinised the PDB selection to see whether the bidding was done in a transparent manner and gave it a go-ahead. The Cabinet Purchase Committee in January last also recommended the project for the prime minister's consideration.

The project now awaits the prime minister's clearance.

"The government is following a policy that encourages local companies to participate in the energy sector which has long been a domain of foreign companies. We believe Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will encourage us to go along with the project," Aziz Khan said.

"Our power tariff offer is one of the lowest in the South Asian countries," he added.

The Summit Group has already installed three 11 megawatt power plants and a 100 megawatt barge-mounted plant. These are operating without any complaints. Besides, it has also pioneered as a local company to install a gas pipeline that is 54 km long.

Meanwhile, sources in the Power Division also said it did not get any directive from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to re-tender the project.