Govt plans to turn Patuakhali’s Payra into a ‘power hub’

Construction has begun on the first power plant in a planned project to develop Patuakhali’s Payra into a ‘hub’ for electricity generation.

State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid says, if the construction proceeds according to schedule, the first 600 MW unit from the 1,320 MW capacity plant will be available within 16 months. The plant would then be the largest in the country.

Other large plants, like the the 1,320 MW coal-fired plant in Bagerhat’s Rampal, had been scheduled to begin generating power by 2018, but the date was pushed back to June, 2021.

Currently Bangladesh’s power generation capacity is nearly 16,000 MW. The government plans to take it to 24,000 MW by 2021 and 40,000 MW by 2030.

The main phase of construction for the 2,000 MW nuclear power plant in Pabna’s Rooppur began this year. Construction is also on-going at several coal and gas based power plants in Cox’s Bazar, Chittagong, Patuakhali and Bagerhat.

State Minister Hamid took several members of the media for a tour of the construction site of the coal-based power plant in Patuakhali’s Dhankhali, on the banks of the Payra River.

Nearly 1,000 acres of land have been allocated and fenced off for the project. The ground has been raised by seven metres using sand to protect the project from floods, tidal surges and other natural disasters.

The main construction work began after the land development was complete. Nearly 3,500 workers, including 1,500 foreigners, are at work on the project.

“Nearly 31 percent of the project is complete. Ultra super critical technologies are being used to build the most modern power plant,” Hamid said.

During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 2014 China visit, a joint agreement was signed between Bangladesh’s North West Power Company and China’s National Machinery Import and Export Corporation.

The two companies later formed the Bangladesh China Power Company Limited.

The joint venture is performing construction work on the project under the supervision of Chinese contractors NEPC and CECC Consortium.

The first unit of the Tk 122.84 billion power plant will be available in May 2019, while the second unit is scheduled for six months afterwards.

The China EXIM Bank and China Development Bank are providing 80 percent of the project’s cost through loans.

The price of each unit of power has been set at Tk 6.65.

State Minister Hamid says there are plans to import coal from Indonesia for the project. A jetty is to be constructed for coal delivery to the plant, he said. They will also receive support from the Payra Port.

Construction is underway on a port on the Payra in the Ramnabad Channel near the power plant. The government says it also has plans to convert it into a ‘deep sea port’.

In addition to the port, nine power plants, with a combined capacity of 9,000 MW is to be constructed in Payra in the next five years, the state minister said. The project will make Payra ‘Bangladesh’s biggest electric hub’, he said.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has undertaken this project in consideration of the people in southern Bangladesh. The completion of the Padma Bridge will increase the demand for power by 12,000 MW in the south-west region,” he said.

The North West Power Generation Company has also signed an agreement with Germany’s Siemens AG to construct an additional project on 100 acres of land that will use coal and imported LNG to generate 3,600 MW of electricity.

“Once the construction of the plant is complete we will move on to the second phase,” said North West Power Managing Director AM Khoshedul Alam told bdnews24.com.

“The capacity of that project will be 1,320 MW.”

The government is also working to develop ‘power hubs’ at Cox’s Bazar’s Matarbari and Moheshkhali, according to State Minister Hamid.

Currently, construction is underway of 36 more power plants across the country, both in the public and private sector, which will able to generate 12,036 MW of power.

Tenders for an additional 41 plants generating 7,374MW more power are being processed. The government also has plans for 14 further projects to increase the capacity by 9,000 MW.