Chittagong Correspondent :
Contrary to the increasing demand of electricity in Chittagong, 14 governmnet and private sponsored power stations of the district are showing a downward trend, as far as production is concerned which entails a lot of sufferings for the inhabitants of Chittagong caused by load-shedding almost every day. Though, with the supply of 225 megawatt Sikalbaha Power Station, now in production on test basis, authority, to a limited extent, tries to mitigate the crisis our hope for a future marked with uninterrupted supply of electricity is marred by the frustrating comments, often, pronounced by the concerned officials.
The PDB people are often found to cleanse of their responsibility saying that the authority is bound to take supply of electricity from privately owned power stations as it is part of the agreement the govt. accorded with the picking power plants. In the case of failure on the part of private rental power companies to produce electricity, the govt. will have to compensate for the loss with money earned as govt. revenue.
It has been gathered that, though, officially the optimum capacity of the 14 power stations is 1416 megawatts, the target could have never been reached due to lack of proper maintenance of three gas generated installations for a long period of time. The production has, by now, decreased to all time low. At present, the 14 power stations can produce 1336 megawatts of electricity. Among this the productivity level of two units of Raojan power stations, with a capacity of producing 210 megawatts, have reduced to a production records of 180 megawatts. On the other hand, 60 megawatts Sikalbaha PowerStation is totally undone to break barrier of 14 megawatts. The management’s common excuse blaming short supply of gas bring the cause of low level of production does not hold water, since we witness similar reduction in the case of power station fueled by furnace oil. According to the latest information of 30th September, the 210 megawatts capacity power stations of Raojan remain totally closed. 60 megawatts capacity Sikalbaha power station also did not operate during this time. Non-availability of gas has been blamed for the shutdown of the power stations.
Kaptai Hydro-Electric Project with a capacity of 230 megawatts, managed by PDB, neither has a success story in store for us. It has produced 172 megawatts out of its capacity of producing 230 megawatts.
Big industries, thanks to the power generated by the companies’ powerful generators, anyhow, keep the production going. But owners of small industries are not so lucky as to keep the wheel of the machine rotating. One of the waste victims of the whimsical behavior of electricity are the students who can’t concentrate their minds to study.
But the most humorous comments involving the whole episode comes from Prabir Kumar Sen, the chief technical engineer of PDB (south). He does not agree with clearly evident proof of reduction in power production. He argues that one cannot term it as a decline in production when Raojan and 60 megawatts Sikalbaha Power Stations cannot go for production due to shortage of gas. However, he holds similar opinion with others when he says that supply of electricity cannot cope up with the increasing demand for the same. Prabir Kumar is nonetheless optimistic when he assures thousands of power hungry clients, “once gas supply becomes normal, all the centers will be able to produce electricity.”
Contrary to the increasing demand of electricity in Chittagong, 14 governmnet and private sponsored power stations of the district are showing a downward trend, as far as production is concerned which entails a lot of sufferings for the inhabitants of Chittagong caused by load-shedding almost every day. Though, with the supply of 225 megawatt Sikalbaha Power Station, now in production on test basis, authority, to a limited extent, tries to mitigate the crisis our hope for a future marked with uninterrupted supply of electricity is marred by the frustrating comments, often, pronounced by the concerned officials.
The PDB people are often found to cleanse of their responsibility saying that the authority is bound to take supply of electricity from privately owned power stations as it is part of the agreement the govt. accorded with the picking power plants. In the case of failure on the part of private rental power companies to produce electricity, the govt. will have to compensate for the loss with money earned as govt. revenue.
It has been gathered that, though, officially the optimum capacity of the 14 power stations is 1416 megawatts, the target could have never been reached due to lack of proper maintenance of three gas generated installations for a long period of time. The production has, by now, decreased to all time low. At present, the 14 power stations can produce 1336 megawatts of electricity. Among this the productivity level of two units of Raojan power stations, with a capacity of producing 210 megawatts, have reduced to a production records of 180 megawatts. On the other hand, 60 megawatts Sikalbaha PowerStation is totally undone to break barrier of 14 megawatts. The management’s common excuse blaming short supply of gas bring the cause of low level of production does not hold water, since we witness similar reduction in the case of power station fueled by furnace oil. According to the latest information of 30th September, the 210 megawatts capacity power stations of Raojan remain totally closed. 60 megawatts capacity Sikalbaha power station also did not operate during this time. Non-availability of gas has been blamed for the shutdown of the power stations.
Kaptai Hydro-Electric Project with a capacity of 230 megawatts, managed by PDB, neither has a success story in store for us. It has produced 172 megawatts out of its capacity of producing 230 megawatts.
Big industries, thanks to the power generated by the companies’ powerful generators, anyhow, keep the production going. But owners of small industries are not so lucky as to keep the wheel of the machine rotating. One of the waste victims of the whimsical behavior of electricity are the students who can’t concentrate their minds to study.
But the most humorous comments involving the whole episode comes from Prabir Kumar Sen, the chief technical engineer of PDB (south). He does not agree with clearly evident proof of reduction in power production. He argues that one cannot term it as a decline in production when Raojan and 60 megawatts Sikalbaha Power Stations cannot go for production due to shortage of gas. However, he holds similar opinion with others when he says that supply of electricity cannot cope up with the increasing demand for the same. Prabir Kumar is nonetheless optimistic when he assures thousands of power hungry clients, “once gas supply becomes normal, all the centers will be able to produce electricity.”
