Bangladesh
SKS-CNBM Sena Kalyan Sangstha seeks compensation from Chinese firm
Dhaka, July 28: Chinese companies in Bangladesh have often been embroiled in controversies. Several cases of tax evasion, financial frauds and trade of prohibited items by Chinese companies have been reported in Bangladesh media. Recently, cases of failure of installations built with Chinese assistance in Bangladesh have come to the fore.
In June 2023, the Chinese assisted National Data Centre (NDC) of the Bangladesh Data Centre Company Ltd. (BDCCL) malfunctioned because of the unlicensed/pirated software supplied by the ZTE of China. The use of pirated software led to failure in updating software and hardware patches, damaging one of the firewalls and considerably reducing the storage capacity of the data centre by 2.1 Petabyte. The storage of data of Bangladesh government stood compromised.
In another case of failure of infrastructure built with Chinese assistance, a bottle making and filling plant at Sena Edible Oil Mill at Fatullah, Narayanganj, built by the Chinese National Building Material (CNBM) International Engineering Co. Ltd., is reported to be facing functional issues.
In February 2017, the Sena Kalyan Sangstha (SKS) had signed an Execution Processing & Construction (EPC) contract with CNBM on turnkey basis for setting up a bottle making and filling plant at Sena Edible Oil Mill at Fatullah, Narayanganj. As per the contract, the plant was scheduled to be handed over within 25 weeks after the contract came into force. However, CNBM could not achieve the time schedule and the plant was finally handed over in December 2019.
Moreover, the machines of the bottle plant could not become fully operational because of the contractors’/sub-contractors’ refusal to share passwords with SKS. Due to this, the bottle blowing machines remained shut during December 2019-2020. Though CNBM issued a letter of commitment in December 2020 to provide all necessary machine/plant passwords within two months, the bottle blowing machines however remained inoperative for long. Imposing password in different machines by different subcontractors was completely illegal and unethical as these were supposedly not covered in the contract between SKS and CNBM.
In January 2021, when the bottle blowing machines suddenly became out of order, SKS officials contacted CNBM and their sub-contractor Tech-long. Tech-long then revealed that CNBM had not paid their dues and therefore, they had deactivated the machines.
The overall financial loss due to password problem and non-functioning of plant machinery is estimated to be around Tk 147 cr. Reportedly, frustrated by CNBM’s constant denial to compensate the damages, SKS has requested assistance from Director General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), Bangladesh in resolving the issue. DGFI has supposedly approached Chinese Embassy in Dhaka and Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing seeking claim and recovery compensation from Chinese National Building Material (CNBM) International Engineering Co. Ltd.
In a similar case of non-payment of dues by a Chinese company in another country - Kenya, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is facing court case filed by local Kenyan firm Tuk Chilo Ltd. CRBC has allegedly failed to pay over KES 44.3 million for construction of various roads in Nairobi to Tuk Chilo Ltd.
The above cases underline the non-compliance, non-cooperation and breach of agreement by Chinese entities operating in foreign shores. The integrity of Chinese companies is always doubtful. They suffer from poor image in corporate ethics. Such companies must be held accountable in international court of law for dishonouring the contracts.
