The government has extended the tenure of two costly rental power plants since the projects expired last year.
The tenure of 53MW United Ashuganj Power Plant has been extended by five years while that of 110MW project located near Dhaka and built by Malaysia-based NEPC Consortium Power Ltd was extended by one year.
The Power Division made the proposal for extending the tenure of the two power plants, which was approved at a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase held at Cabinet Division yesterday with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair.
After the meeting, Cabinet Division Joint Secretary Mustafizur Rahman told reporters that the tenure of the two rental power plants had been extended and the per unit cost of electricity had been cut.
“The government has extended the tenure of rental power plants so that coal and gas-based power plants come into operation,” he said.
The joint secretary also said the government would procure 31,240KM conductors and 5.60 lakh single-phase electronic meters at a cost of Tk215 crore.
As per the proposal, the government has extended the tenure of the power plant project of NEPC Consortium Power Ltd by a year from June 23, 2014, considering the country’s electricity demand.
It has also extended the tenure of 53MW United Ashuganj Rental Power Plant project by five years and agreed to purchase electricity from it at Tk3.28 per unit.
NEPC Consortium Power Ltd is implementing the project. It has been supplying electricity to the Bangladesh Power Development Board since October 10, 2000 under an unsolicited deal.
The government will pay Tk1,224 crore, including fuel cost, to procure electricity from the power plant during the extended period, the proposal said, adding that the government would be able to save Tk172 crore subject to extension of the project’s tenure.
The project was gas-based till 2010 and later converted to HFO-based.
After the expiry of the power purchase deal with the power plant sponsor in October last year, the government requested the plant authority to continue power generation.
The government will purchase per unit of electricity from the power project at Tk15.85 and, excluding fuel cost, at Tk13.66.
In 1997, it signed a deal to procure per unit of electricity from the project at Tk18.09 and, including fuel cost, at Tk15.32 per unit. The tenure of NEPC Consortium Power Ltd has been extended by one year as the project expired on October 7, 2013.
Besides, the tenure of 53MW United Ashuganj Power expired on June 21, 2014. BPDB had signed a power purchase deal with the company on December 23, 2010.
During its previous tenure, the gas-fired rental power project supplied electricity to the BPDB at Tk5.012 per unit, which was Tk1.7272 more than its present revised rate.