MPC-Bangla Power, a joint venture of Meiya Power Company Limited and Trade Matrix Venture Limited, will build a 1,075MW Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)-based combined cycle power plant at Maheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar.
This type of power plant will be built under the private sector power generation policy for the first time in the country’s history. Construction of the plant will take 46 months.
A PDB official, asking not to be named, said the Prime Minister’s Office approved the proposal of the consortium to set up the power plant.
He said the power plant will likely be built under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provisions) (Amendment) Act.
The government has been importing LNG for the country as it is reeling from an acute gas crisis due to the fast depletion of current reserves and a lack of new discoveries.
After the Chinese consortium sent a proposal to the Power Division to set up the plant late last year, the Power Division sought the opinion of the Power Development Board.
“They have submitted a feasibility study to build the plant. We discussed their proposal at our board meeting and will send our opinion to the Power Division as soon as possible,” Power Development Board (PDB) Chairman Shahinul Islam Khan told the Dhaka Tribune.
“The Power Division will take the final decision in this regard,” he said.
The submitted report said the consortium would supply LNG to the proposed Power Division offshore LNG terminal from which it will obtain re-gasified LNG as fuel for the proposed 1,075MW plant.
The proposed power station is to be operated on a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) scheme for the next 22 years.
The consortium proposed that the cost per unit of electricity produced at the LNG plant would be around Tk12 subject to the availability of LNG at $17 per million British thermal units (mmbtu).
Currently, the cost of electricity per unit from a gas-run plant is less than Tk2 while the cost of electricity per unit produced from a diesel or oil-run plant is Tk14 to Tk18.
