Anisul Islam Noor :
The state-owned power plants cannot generate electricity as per capacity due to want of improved technology, and mismanagement, sources said.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) can generate electricity half of their capacity for use of old version of machinery.
On the other hand, plan for low cost coal power plants instead of costly diesel and furnace oil will not be successful for management crisis.
As a result, dependency on costly diesel and furnace oil will be increased, the experts opined.
Power sector mega projects updated evaluation report prepared by Power Cell said that only three public sector coal-fired power plants may go to operation by 2021.
Officials of the Power Division said it will not be possible for the private sector power projects to maintain schedules as these private groups are facing difficulties in mobilising necessary funds for the projects.
The public sector plants are 1320 MW Rampal Coal-fired Power Plant, 1200 MW Matarbari Power Plant and 1300 MW Payra Power Plant.
Of the three projects, Rampal and Payra plants are being implemented under joint venture while state-run Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) is implementing the Matarbari Project funded by Japanese donor agency JICA, said sources at the Power Division.
The government has already signed the final contracts for the Rampal and Payra projects, and the implementing companies have also appointed Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors.
But the project has been facing difficulties in environmental issue as UNESCO recently gave a guideline for completion a Environmental Assessment before any heavy construction near the Sundarbans.
On the other hand, the EPC contractor for the Matarbari power plant is yet to be appointed.
Besides, the government has signed a number of contracts to implement some other coal-fired power plants under joint ventures with the Chinese and theMalaysian firms.
However, the final contracts have not yet been signed with them as the progress over the fund arrangement is very slow.
Professor Shamsul Alam, Energy Adviser of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) told the reporter on Tuesday that an elite group has been created in the power sector hindering to implement cheaper power plant projects.
Their aim is to make more money easily by selling electricity at higher price to the government, he said.
Professor Alam said, the power sector master plan is totally wrong and the Power Division also does not know how it would be implemented.
Salek Sufi, energy expert of Bangladesh, who is working now at Australia for capacity building of the country’s energy sector officials, told the reporter over cell phone that Bangladesh’s official and experts do not know how they will implement these big projects.
State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid is confident that the three projects will go into operation by 2022 given the way they are progressing and the country will get about 3900-4000 MW of power from these plants.
He said although Matarbari Project’s EPC contractor has not been appointed yet, the implementing agency, CPGCBL, has been doing tremendous jobs, especially in creating supporting infrastructures, for the project.
He, however, expressed disappointment at the progress in implementation of private coal-fired power plants. “I’m not sure how many of them could come into operation as per the schedule as they are progressing very slowly,” he said.
The government has so far awarded contracts to a number of private sponsors to set up a good number of coal-fired power plants.
These include S Alam Group’s 217 MW Bhola Power Plant, 1320 MW Banshkhali Plant in Chittagong under joint venture with SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation, Orion Group’s 283 MW Chittagong Power Plant, 635 MW Gazaria Power Plant in Munshiganj and 660 MW Mawa Power Plant.
The state-owned power plants cannot generate electricity as per capacity due to want of improved technology, and mismanagement, sources said.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) can generate electricity half of their capacity for use of old version of machinery.
On the other hand, plan for low cost coal power plants instead of costly diesel and furnace oil will not be successful for management crisis.
As a result, dependency on costly diesel and furnace oil will be increased, the experts opined.
Power sector mega projects updated evaluation report prepared by Power Cell said that only three public sector coal-fired power plants may go to operation by 2021.
Officials of the Power Division said it will not be possible for the private sector power projects to maintain schedules as these private groups are facing difficulties in mobilising necessary funds for the projects.
The public sector plants are 1320 MW Rampal Coal-fired Power Plant, 1200 MW Matarbari Power Plant and 1300 MW Payra Power Plant.
Of the three projects, Rampal and Payra plants are being implemented under joint venture while state-run Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) is implementing the Matarbari Project funded by Japanese donor agency JICA, said sources at the Power Division.
The government has already signed the final contracts for the Rampal and Payra projects, and the implementing companies have also appointed Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors.
But the project has been facing difficulties in environmental issue as UNESCO recently gave a guideline for completion a Environmental Assessment before any heavy construction near the Sundarbans.
On the other hand, the EPC contractor for the Matarbari power plant is yet to be appointed.
Besides, the government has signed a number of contracts to implement some other coal-fired power plants under joint ventures with the Chinese and theMalaysian firms.
However, the final contracts have not yet been signed with them as the progress over the fund arrangement is very slow.
Professor Shamsul Alam, Energy Adviser of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) told the reporter on Tuesday that an elite group has been created in the power sector hindering to implement cheaper power plant projects.
Their aim is to make more money easily by selling electricity at higher price to the government, he said.
Professor Alam said, the power sector master plan is totally wrong and the Power Division also does not know how it would be implemented.
Salek Sufi, energy expert of Bangladesh, who is working now at Australia for capacity building of the country’s energy sector officials, told the reporter over cell phone that Bangladesh’s official and experts do not know how they will implement these big projects.
State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid is confident that the three projects will go into operation by 2022 given the way they are progressing and the country will get about 3900-4000 MW of power from these plants.
He said although Matarbari Project’s EPC contractor has not been appointed yet, the implementing agency, CPGCBL, has been doing tremendous jobs, especially in creating supporting infrastructures, for the project.
He, however, expressed disappointment at the progress in implementation of private coal-fired power plants. “I’m not sure how many of them could come into operation as per the schedule as they are progressing very slowly,” he said.
The government has so far awarded contracts to a number of private sponsors to set up a good number of coal-fired power plants.
These include S Alam Group’s 217 MW Bhola Power Plant, 1320 MW Banshkhali Plant in Chittagong under joint venture with SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation, Orion Group’s 283 MW Chittagong Power Plant, 635 MW Gazaria Power Plant in Munshiganj and 660 MW Mawa Power Plant.
