Bangladesh starts construction of 1,200MW power plant in coastal Cox’s Bazar

Bangladesh has begun the construction of one of its largest power plants in the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 28 Jan 2018, 07:52 AM
Updated : 28 Jan 2018, 01:39 PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the work on Sunday via video-conferencing from her official residence in Dhaka.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA, is financing the project to construct the 1,200MW coal-fired plant at Matarbari in the island Upazila of Moheshkhali.

“The initiatives in Matarbari will spur socio-economic development not only in the area, but in the whole country as well,” Hasina said at the inauguration ceremony attended by the JICA vice-president and the special envoy to Japanese PM.

A Japanese delegation led by it ambassador in Dhaka was connected to the Ganabhaban ceremony from Matarbari through video-conferencing.

The estimated cost of building the plant on 1,414 acres is around Tk 360 billion.

Japan is providing around Tk 290 billion in loan support for the project while the government will fund over Tk 70 billion.

Bangladesh plans to turn Matarbari into a major economic hub, where it is also building a port, which will be gradually converted into a deep-sea port.

The project area is some 40 nautical miles from the port in Chittagong.

The government cleared the Matarbari project in August 2015, but the tender process suffered a delay after the 2016 Dhaka cafe terror attack, when 17 foreigners, including Japanese engineers were killed.

Speaking at Sunday’s ceremony, Hasina expressed grief over the deaths and thanked Japan for standing by Bangladesh, “even after what happened”.

In July last year, state-owned Coal Power Generation Company or CPGCBL finally signed the deal with Japanese consortium of Sumitomo Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and IHI Corporation to construct the coal-fired plant.

The Matarbari power plant project includes the construction of a port to bring in coal, which will be capable to unload vessels with a capacity up to 80,000 tonnes.

It will be turned into a full-fledged port while an LNG terminal will be built there in line with the plan for an economic hub.

Of the 10 projects prioritised by the government, the Matarbari power plant is the second biggest after the Rooppur nuclear power plant project in terms of cost.

Bangladesh plans to almost double its power generation capacity to 24,000 megawatts by 2021.