Date: 20.02.10
Source: The Daily Star
Dhaka , Delhi
Coal-fired plant to generate power in 3yrs
The two countries also agreed to establish a
cross-border power grid, for which tenders will be invited this month, and the
work order will be issued in June this year.
The decisions were taken at the second meeting of
the Bangladesh-India Joint Steering Committee on Power Sector which had been
formed during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to
Each of the units in the joint-venture power
plant will have the capacity to generate 660MW of power using imported coal.
National Thermal Power Corporation of
A bilateral document prior to signing of a
memorandum of understanding regarding the matter is expected to be signed
today.
At yesterday's meeting the Indian side was headed
by its Power Secretary HS Brahma, who had flown to
The power secretaries of both countries jointly
briefed journalists about the meeting's resolutions at the PDB headquarters in
"We want to gather experience regarding coal
based power plants, since in future we will have to set up several such power
plants to utilise the coal deposits of the country," said Bangladesh Power
Division Secretary Abul Kalam Azad who led the
He also said the required investment for the
plant will be between $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion. "We are not able to
give you the exact figure until the feasibility study is finished," he however
added.
Azad said although usually it takes around four
years to set up such a power plant, they are optimistic about starting power
generation in the new plant within three years of issuing the work order.
Replying to questions from reporters on what will
be the unit price of the generated power and what will be the per unit cost of
the generation, Azad said that also cannot be determined until the feasibility
study is done. He also said coal for the plant will be imported, but from
where, that has yet to be determined too.
The cross-border power grid will take two years
to be set up after the work order is issued. Forty five kilometres of the power
line will be in
"It might be possible to begin importing
250MW of power from
About the per unit cost of importing power from
India, its Power Secretary HS Brahma said power will be sold to Bangladesh at
the rate paid by the state governments of India, which may range between 2.5
and 4 rupees, depending on factors such as generation cost, and the state where
the power is being generated.
The
He also said the cross-border power line could be
used for importing power from the private sector of
Talking at the briefing, the Indian power
secretary said he hopes that the cooperation in power sector will be a good
step forward for bilateral relations between the two countries.
PDB Chairman Alamgir Kabir, and other senior
officials of both countries were also present at the briefing.