No one interested in building Keraniganj waste-driven power plant

The government has so far received no interest from international firms to build a waste-based pilot power plant in Keraniganj on the outskirts of Dhaka, despite repeatedly floating tenders for the project. The Power Development Board (PDB) has issued three tenders seeking proposals for the design, construction, testing and commissioning of a 1MW solid waste-based power plant on a turnkey basis. In a turnkey contract, the contractor is required to provide the plant ready for use by a fixed date. A PDB official, seeking anonymity, said only one firm had responded to the first call for bids, but the price they quoted was too high. The second call for tenders got no response from any international firm. PDB has now floated the tender for the third time with the deadline of tender selling on November 30. The final day for submission and opening of the tenders has been fixed for December 3. A Power Division official said the government had completed a feasibility study for building the Keraniganj waste-based power plant. He also said the government had finalised the memorandum of association and articles of association required to form the country’s first waste-based power generation company that will take recycled garbage and turn it into green energy. PDB Director (Renewable Energy) Sheik Nazmul Haq told the Dhaka Tribune that the project’s main objective is to ensure waste management as well as electricity generation. “Solid waste has good potential to contribute in the generation of renewable power, especially in major cities and municipalities,” he said. “Each day, around 200 tons of municipal solid waste and garment waste are generated.” The pilot power plant would collect about 80 tons of waste from three dumping sites including Rajuk’s Jhilmil project site. Prof Dr Saiful Huque of the Institute of Energy at Dhaka University gave three possible reasons for the lack of interest in discharging the project. He told the Dhaka Tribune: “There could be a kind of syndicate not letting the firms participate. Also, the terms and condition referred to in the tender might be tough or irrational. It can also happen that the international firms actually do not know about the tender at all.” Earlier, government initiatives to set up two waste-based power plants at Amin Bazar and Matuail areas in Dhaka failed due to lack of funding. An Italian company, Management Environment Finance SRL Ltd, signed an agreement with the Local Government Division, Dhaka South City Corporation and Dhaka North City Corporation on February 22, 2013. The projects have yet to be launched. The government has a policy road map to increase the share of renewable energy sources in power generation to 10% by 2020.