The electricity transmission project associated with the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant involves work worth thousands of crores of taka. Yet Indian contractor Transrail Lighting Limited and the company’s Bangladesh Country Director, Amrik Singh, are reportedly no longer active in the field without fully completing key parts of the project.

Read more:Transrail Under Fire Over Alleged Corruption Worth Hundreds of Crores

The situation has raised concerns among stakeholders over the progress of the project, the unfinished components, and the current status of the contractor. There are allegations that officials associated with the company have largely withdrawn from the project without completing the assigned work.

This raises several questions: Who will be held responsible for leaving such a massive project incomplete? How will the remaining work be completed? And how transparent is the accounting of the money already paid to the contractor?

Read more: ট্রান্সরেইল লাইটিং ও অমৃক সিংয়ের বিরুদ্ধে গুরুতর অভিযোগ, দুদকে নালিশ

According to documents from the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), several Indian companies, including Transrail, have been engaged as contractors for different components of the electricity transmission system related to the Rooppur project.

Among these, Transrail’s work on constructing transmission lines across rivers is particularly important. Media reports in 2024 said that work on the transmission lines crossing the Padma and Jamuna rivers had stalled, while the absence of the company’s foreign personnel from the project area had affected the progress of the work.

More importantly, a 2024 report stated that the contract value for Transrail’s river-crossing transmission work was approximately US$524 million.

However, fresh questions are now being raised about the company’s current involvement in the project. According to PGCB’s 2024–25 Annual Report, Transrail is listed as the contractor for a separate project with a total cost of approximately Tk 6,056.30 crore. As of June 2025, the project had achieved 63.50 percent physical progress and 48.91 percent financial progress, with completion scheduled for September 2026.

Against this backdrop, questions have emerged: If such a large-scale project remains incomplete, where are the contractor’s field-level operations, and who will take responsibility for completing the remaining work?

However, claims that the company has “disappeared after taking hundreds of crores of taka” would require more specific evidence regarding payments received by the company, its alleged withdrawal from the project, and any formally documented complaints by the relevant authorities. Therefore, it would be safer journalistically to present allegations of the company having “disappeared” or misappropriated funds as allegations, rather than established facts.

According to officials of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), the river-crossing transmission lines are critically important for connecting electricity generated at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant to the national grid. Transrail Lighting Limited is responsible for a major portion of the transmission-line construction work across the Padma and Jamuna rivers.

They said that in the past, the departure of foreign personnel employed by the Indian contractor from the project area had disrupted the progress of the work. As a result, uncertainty arose over whether key components of the project could be completed within the scheduled timeframe.

PGCB officials believe that the contractor’s operations, manpower, equipment, and progress against contractual obligations need to be closely monitored to ensure that the remaining work is completed quickly. In particular, failure to complete the river-crossing component could create major complications in transmitting electricity generated by the Rooppur plant to the national grid.

According to analysts, allegations that a contractor has withdrawn from a project worth thousands of crores of taka while leaving important work incomplete are extremely serious. In projects of this scale, everything—from disbursement of funds and work progress to contractual obligations and the contractor’s accountability—needs to be reviewed transparently.

They say it is not enough to assess only how much physical progress has been made. It is also essential to investigate how much money has already been paid, how much work has been completed against those payments, and whether additional funds will be required to finish the incomplete work.

Analysts further point out that leaving critical components of the project incomplete could have consequences beyond financial losses. If the transmission system cannot be commissioned on time, it could disrupt the overall plan for electricity generation at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant and the supply of that electricity to the national grid.

Where Is Amrik Singh?

Following the filing of a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), questions have also arisen over the whereabouts of Amrik Singh, Country Director of Transrail in Bangladesh. Although there are allegations that he has left the country, the relevant authorities have yet to issue a clear official statement on the matter.

The complainants fear that if an investigation into irregularities in the project begins, questioning the individuals concerned and scrutinizing relevant documents will become crucial. They are therefore calling for an investigation into Amrik Singh’s current whereabouts, as well as how he allegedly left the country.