S Alam's sole coal trader in Bangladesh survives Rampal tender as two rivals excluded
A Singapore coal trader supplying S Alam Group's financially troubled Banshkhali power plant is among three foreign bidders remaining in the race for an 8 million-tonne coal supply contract at Rampal, after two Bangladeshi bidders were excluded over alleged ‘minor’ paperwork irregularities.
The trader, Liannex Corporation (S) Pte Ltd, has supplied about 5.2 million tonnes of Indonesian coal to S Alam-controlled SS Power I Limited since January 2025, according to customs records reviewed for this investigation.
All 216 bills of entry examined name SS Power, the 1,320 MW coal-fired plant at Gandamara in Chattogram's Banshkhali, as the importer. No shipments to other Bangladeshi customers were found in the records examined.
A contract with Rampal would give Liannex a second major customer in Bangladesh and reduce its dependence on SS Power, which has faced payment difficulties, loan defaults and restrictions on import financing.
It could also provide Liannex with additional financing capacity, shipping arrangements and access to coal supplies that may support its existing business with Banshkhali.
SS Power, in which S Alam Group holds a 70% stake, received 3,287 crore taka in capacity charges during the last full year, according to figures obtained by Daily Waadaa.
Continued coal supplies would allow the plant to maintain operations and receive payments under its power purchase agreement, subject to contractual conditions.
The procurement process has also come under scrutiny following the exclusion of Rampal's existing supplier, which delivered 5.65 million tonnes of coal despite repeated payment delays.
One supplier, 216 shipments
National Board of Revenue clearance records from Chattogram show that Liannex began supplying Indonesian steam coal to SS Power on 20 January 2025.
Between that date and 24 September 2026, the company supplied approximately 5.2 million tonnes valued at about $500 million. The records contain 216 bills of entry, all identifying SS Power as the importer.
A search of customs records dating back to January 2024 found no earlier shipments by Liannex to other Bangladeshi power producers. When bidding for Rampal's new contract closed in May 2026, Liannex had been supplying coal to Bangladesh for about 16 months.
Its sole recorded customer was SS Power, which has faced financial and operational difficulties amid investigations into the wider S Alam Group.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has investigated the group's financial activities, while its owner has faced legal proceedings involving assets and transactions in Bangladesh and overseas jurisdictions.
SS Power has also reported difficulties importing coal because of unpaid electricity bills from the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB).
In March and April 2026, the company informed the government that it could not unload a coal vessel because BPDB had not cleared outstanding payments.
Customs records show Liannex's coal clearances slowing in March and stopping in April. Imports resumed in May. The declared prices were higher.
Through 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, Liannex's coal prices generally ranged from $78 to $93 a tonne. When shipments resumed in May, the average declared price had increased to $109. By September, prices ranged from $118 to $121 a tonne, an increase of about 30% over six months.
International coal prices also increased during this period, as disruption around the Strait of Hormuz affected energy markets and Bangladesh increased its reliance on coal.
In May 2025, Liannex's invoiced prices were below the regional Platts benchmark.
Under SS Power's electricity purchasing arrangement, coal costs are passed through to BPDB.
The prices paid to Liannex therefore form part of the costs borne by Bangladesh's public electricity system.
On August 16, 2026, Bangladesh Bank issued a waiver allowing state-owned Rupali Bank to finance SS Power's coal imports against a 100% cash margin until December 2027, despite the company's loan-default status.
The exemption allowed the company to continue accessing import financing that would otherwise have been restricted. Customs records show Liannex's shipments increasing in August and September.
The waiver provided a financing arrangement for SS Power's fuel purchases through a state-owned bank. It also enabled the continuation of imports from Liannex, although the records do not establish whether the waiver directly financed each shipment.
The arrangement is scheduled to remain in force until December 2027.
Who owns Liannex?
Liannex Corporation (S) Pte Ltd was incorporated in Singapore in July 1993 and remains registered at 18 Sungei Kadut Way. The company began in bus assembly before expanding into cement and coal trading.
According to its website, Liannex trades approximately 2 million tonnes of coal annually, mainly sourced from Sumatra in Indonesia. It is a licensed user of the globalCOAL trading contract and maintains banking arrangements with DBS.
The company is associated with Lim Han Weng, the Malaysian founder and executive chairman of Yinson Holdings, a Bursa Malaysia-listed energy company. Yinson's corporate filings identify Liannex as a privately held business associated with Lim.
Its operations include tug-and-barge subsidiaries transporting coal and gypsum between Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
Liannex has recently supplied approximately 3 million tonnes annually to SS Power.
Rampal's existing supplier excluded
The consortium of Bashundhara Multi Trading, Singapore's Equentia Natural Resources and the UAE's Atro International won Rampal's first long-term coal supply contract in 2023.
It submitted the lowest of three bids.
By January 2026, the consortium had delivered 5.65 million tonnes of coal to the 1,320 MW power plant, operated by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (BIFPCL).
The deliveries continued during periods of foreign exchange shortages, delayed payments and difficulties opening letters of credit. In November 2025, the consortium delivered 500,000 tonnes in a single month, described as a national record.
It also provided interest-free bridging finance to BIFPCL to facilitate the opening of letters of credit for coal imports. Rampal's two 660 MW units generated more than 9% of Bangladesh's electricity in April, according to figures cited in the investigation.
Despite its supply record, the consortium was excluded from the new tender. Akij Shipping, another Bangladeshi bidder, was also disqualified.
Sources familiar with the evaluation said the grounds included spelling discrepancies, the placement of signatures and inconsistencies in dates on powers of attorney.
The sources said BIFPCL sought a legal opinion supporting the disqualifications. Waadaa contacted BIFPCL but they didn’t provide any clarification.
Experts concerned said the exclusions have raised questions about the application of procurement rules and the sequence of technical and financial evaluations.
Section 48(1) of the Public Procurement Act requires tender evaluations to follow the criteria disclosed in the bidding documents. Section 26(2) addresses bidder qualifications, including past performance, production capacity and financial strength.
Rule 98 of the 2008 Public Procurement Rules distinguishes minor, correctable defects from material deviations affecting a tender's scope, quality, performance or competitive position.
Whether the reported discrepancies justified disqualification depends on the specific tender requirements and evaluation findings.
People familiar with the process also said the financial proposals had already been opened and that visits to inspect coal mines in Indonesia were being arranged afterwards.
BIFPCL has confirmed neither claim to Waadaa.
Under the single-stage, two-envelope procedure, technical evaluation is required to be completed and approved before financial proposals are opened.
The timing of any mine inspections would therefore be relevant if those inspections formed part of the technical qualification process.
One official from BIFPCL who preferred to be unnamed told Waadaa that the evaluation is conducted by a senior technical team and that no individual controls the process. The company has previously maintained that its status as a joint-venture company places it outside the Public Procurement Act.
BPDB owns 50% of BIFPCL, with the remaining stake held by India's NTPC.
The evaluation committee reportedly includes a deputy secretary from the Shipping Ministry, a BPDB director and an official of the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation.
The applicable procurement framework and the committee's evaluation records have not been made available in the material reviewed for this investigation.
Similar dispute at Matarbari
The Rampal tender follows an earlier procurement dispute involving the same Bashundhara-led consortium at the Matarbari coal-fired power plant.
In 2024, Coal Power Generation Company amended technical criteria three working days before the submission deadline. The amendments allowed companies with experience transporting cement, fertiliser and grain to qualify for the coal supply tender.
The Bashundhara consortium was subsequently declared non-responsive over the wording of its bid security. The decision was made despite a contrary written opinion from the procurement authority, according to records cited in the investigation.
The remaining bidder was a consortium involving Unique Cement and the Singapore trading arm of Aditya Birla.
On September 5, 2024, the High Court found the amendments contrary to procurement rules and questioned the tender process. However, it declined to order a fresh tender because Matarbari had only 10 days of coal remaining.
The plant subsequently faced further coal supply difficulties.
Within months, it rejected a cargo reported to contain soil and operated on one unit.
Commercial implications for S Alam
If Liannex secures the Rampal contract, it would supply coal to two major power plants whose electricity costs are ultimately borne by BPDB.
Rampal is a Bangladesh-India joint venture in which BPDB holds a 50% stake. SS Power is a privately owned plant in which S Alam Group holds a 70% stake.
Under its power purchase agreement, SS Power receives capacity payments and reimbursement of eligible fuel costs. The plant received 3,287 crore taka in capacity charges in the last full year, according to figures cited in the investigation.
Its ability to maintain operations depends partly on securing coal supplies and financing imports.
Liannex currently supplies the coal recorded in the customs documents examined. Experts concerned told Waadaa that a Rampal contract could provide the trader with additional revenue, financing opportunities and purchasing capacity.
Those commercial advantages could also support its existing supply arrangements with SS Power.
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Zulkarnain Saer Khan is an investigative journalist.