Commercial production at the coal-fired Rampal power plant, 14km from the Sundarbans, is likely to start in October following a trial run in August and September, as 18,650 tons of coal reached the station from Indonesia on Thursday.
Coal would arrive at the plant regularly from now on, said Anwarul Azim, deputy general manager (DGM) of the plant.
The power plant would go into commercial power production in October, he added.
Another 36,000 tons of coal from Indonesia is scheduled to reach Mongla Port on Friday evening.
In 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for the implementation of the Rampal Power Plant Project.
According to the MoU, Rampal was supposed to begin production in 2018. However, the deadline was extended several times for various reasons, including the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
