Electricity production at the Rampal coal-fired power plant in Bagerhat has come to a halt again due to the coal crisis.
The plant has been non-operational since the night of April 23.
The situation arose due to the inability to import coal amidst a dollar crisis, however, power plant officials said that production is likely to resume within a week.
Confirming the matter, Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Ltd (BIFPCL) Deputy General Manager Anwarul Azim said several steps have been taken to import coal and production could resume on May 3.
Electricity production at the Rampal power plant was suspended on January 14 of this year due to the coal crisis.
After a month, when the coal supply normalized, production began but it was stopped again on April 15 due to mechanical issues.
The plant again resumed operation on April 18.
According to sources, Bangladesh Bank has been strict about opening Letters of Credit (LC) for the import of non-essential and luxury items due to the dollar crisis, and coal was on that list as well.
After receiving concerns from various sectors about power production, the central bank lifted the restriction on coal and instructed state-owned banks to open LCs for coal imports on January 17.
On September 6 last year, the first unit of the 1,320MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project in Rampal officially began power production.
Initially, a long-term agreement to purchase 8 million tons of coal was made to keep the power plant running. So far, 267,752 tons of coal have been imported from Indonesia for the Rampal power plant.
