No large government power plants went into commercial operation over the last four years due to procrastination in planning and a lack of funds.
Former director general of the Power Cell, BD Rahamat Ullah, said another reason behind the failure is complexity involved with implementation of large power plants that have a capacity of generating 300 megawatt (MW) of electricity or more.
The Awami League-led alliance government relied heavily on rental and quick rental power plants with capacities of 20-150MW to increase power production, which have put pressure on the national coffers.
Fifty-five such plants added over 3,870MW of electricity to the national grid in the last four years.
Sheikh Hasina’s government planned to build 11gas-based large plants in both public and private sectors to produce about 3,500MW of electricity during its tenure.
Of the planned 11 plants, the state-run Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) has constructed only one plant with 412MW capacity at Haripur in Narayanganj. The plant added 70MW of electricity to the national grid, before operations came to an abrupt halt.
A private firm, Summit Group, is building another 337MW dual-fuel combined cycle power plant at Meghnaghat in Narayanganj, and it is expected to start its test run by August this year with limited capacity.
It will supply 220MW of power to the national grid in the first phase and another 117MW will be added in July 2014.
The Summit Group has also been awarded two other projects – Bibiyana-1 and Bibiayana-2 – with 341MW capacity each. The two are expected to commence operation by August this year.
The fate of the Bibiyana-1 power plant project will be decided at a joint meeting with the Summit Group on June 20. The rest are unlikely to be completed in the tenure of the current government.
“It should have been possible to build at least four or five 300MW capacity power plants during a five-year term but the government has failed to do so,” said Rahamat Ullah.
“Lack of supervision has contributed to the complexities in the implementation process,” he said.
The private sector wasted almost two years looking for funds while the government officials lacked dynamism to implement the projects, sources said.
The Power Cell has taken initiatives to set up a 300MW plant in Sirajganj, which is scheduled go into full-fledged operation by June next year. But the construction contract has not been signed yet.
The Power Development Board has signed a deal with the Marubeni Corporation of Japan and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company of South Korea to build a 399MW-capacity power plant at Bibiyana-3, which was supposed to begin full operation in September 2015.
On June 4, the government approved the construction of the Bibiyana-3 combined cycle power plant project at a cost of Tk33.6bn. Now the power plant project is scheduled to be implemented between July 2013 and June 2016.
Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh has contracted for the construction work of another plant to Isulax Inajeniriya of Spain and Samsung CandT of South Korea, where they will build a 335MW power plant in Siddhirganj.
The plant is expected to start operation in December next year.
The North-West Power Generation Company has signed an agreement with the Tokyo Electric Power Services of Japan and Fichtner Gmbh of Germany to build a 360MW plant at Bheramara in Kushtia.
The plant is scheduled to begin power generation in September, 2015.
Ashuganj Power Station Company has signed a deal with Inelectra International AB of Sweden and TSK Electronica Electricidad SA of Spain to build a 382MW power plant in Ashuganj.
The tentative time for commencement of operations is January, 2015.
The PDB has planned to build a 300MW gas-based combined cycle power plant in Shahjibazar. A project director has already been appointed. It will come into full-fledged production by October of 2015.
The PDB also has a plan to build a 300MW power plant in Ghorashal. The project director has been appointed and it will commence full-fledged operations by October of 2015.
“The government initially focused only on quick rental power plants. The situation has deteriorated due to its dependency on the private sector,” said Prof Shamsul Alam of the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet) and energy advisor of Consumer Association of Bangladesh.
However, Power Secretary Monowar Islam said: “There is no lack of cooperation from the part of the government to facilitate construction of the plants.”
Works are progressing smoothly and are expected to be completed within the stipulated time, he said.
