Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Advisor Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan has ordered a reduction in the salaries of top-level officials at the Payra Thermal Power Plant in Patuakhali.
The directive came a day after Prothom Alo published a report on Tuesday titled “Questions arise over triple salaries at Payra power plant,” highlighting the unusually high salaries paid to senior officials of Bangladesh China Power Company Limited (BCPCL), which operates the plant.
In a letter issued Wednesday, the Power Division asked BCPCL to urgently report the measures taken to revise the salary structure of its top management - specifically, the Managing Director (Grade-1) and Grade-2 officials - in accordance with the Government Unified Service Rules.
The letter noted that while power plants established under joint ventures are also expected to follow the government’s standard salary structure, BCPCL has not yet responded to a previous letter issued on 17 November last year.
That letter had directed the company to revise its salary structure based on recommendations from a committee formed under the advisor’s instructions.
Payra Power Plant, commissioned in 2016, initially followed the government-approved pay scale. However, in a 2019 board meeting, the salaries of top executives were significantly increased, taking effect in 2020.
The basic salary of the Managing Director was raised to Tk 700,000 from Tk 175,000. Including allowances such as house rent, the total monthly amount rose to around a whopping Tk 1.5 million.
Grade-2 officials saw their basic salary increased to Tk 450,000 from Tk 149,000, with a total package reaching approximately Tk 900,000. In contrast, middle-level officers received only modest increases, and lower-tier employees saw no salary adjustment at all.
The Payra plant, one of the country’s largest power projects, cost around Tk 200 billion to build. Its first unit, with a capacity of 660 megawatts, began production on 13 January 2020.
The second unit commenced operations on 26 August the same year. Since then, the plant has earned over Tk 130 billion in capacity charges.