Bangladesh Diesel Plant, run by the army, has been awarded a contract under the direct procurement method to develop the land and build a dam for the Rampal Thermal Power Plant under construction.
The Power Division proposal was approved at a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase yesterday. Finance Minister AMA Muhith presided over the meeting.
Cabinet Division Joint Secretary Mustafizur Rahman told reporters that the committee has given its consent to awarding the project to BDP for developing 918.5 acres of land without open tendering, as part of the construction of the 1,320 megawatt plant in Bagerhat.
In reply to a question, Mustafiz also said BDP has a good track record of finishing project assignments smoothly and within the stipulated time.
The BDP was awarded the job to develop land for a second block of the power plant which will cost Tk75.18 crore.
The joint venture Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company is currently developing 915.50-acres of land for block A and building the power plant.
The land for block B will be filled up with sand and soil, brought in from the the Ghoshiakhali canal in the Sundarbans. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already given a verbal directive to the authorities about using the canal for navigation.
Environmentalists and consumer rights bodies have, for a long time, been strongly opposed to the construction of the power plant within just 14km of the Sundarbans.
They say the project may pose grave environmental threats to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and a Unesco Heritage Site.
On paper, the construction of the plant was to begin in 2009-10 and be completed in 2019.
The cabinet committee yesterday also approved a proposal to procure 1.3 million tonnes of fuel oil from United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia at a cost of Tk9,373 crore during the ongoing 2014-15 fiscal year.
