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77mw Power in June this Year, 227mw Power by April 2010

Three plants to cut Ctg power crisis

Hopes PDB chief engineer

Nur Uddin Alamgir
Three under-construction power plants, two rental and one state-run, are likely to generate 227 more megawatt (MW) power for Chittagong region by April next vear.
A22-megawatt (MW) rental power plant at Barabkunda under Sitakunda upazila is ready to go into generation by April. The gas-fired Tk 100 crore power plant of Regent Power Limited will
get gas for generation from the pipeline of Bakhrabad Gas Systems Limited (BGSL) according to an agreement.
Chittagong PDB Chief Engineer Tulashi Das Saha told The Daily Star that the 22MW plant was scheduled to go into operation in February this year.
"We are expecting to get power from the gas-fired plant by April,” he said.
Besides, construction work of another 73.8MW
rental power plant at Shikalbaha under Patiya upazila is going on in full swing to go into operation by June this year.
Energies Power Corporation Limited, a private farm, started constructing the plant in January this year.
According to the agreement with the government, the furnace oil-fired plant will supply 55MW power to the PDB and rest to private farms, sources at (he PDB said.
Hong Kong-based Royse Power is providing the technical assistance for the project. The complete plant will be brought by ship from Germany and set up on the underconstruction structure.
The company Managing Director Jabed Hossain said the readymade plant is scheduled to reach Chittagong by first week of May and they are expecting to go into operation by June.
"Under the agreement it
will cost Tk 8.87 per unit for the PDB when the price of per barrel furnace oil is $146 in the international market. But, the price of per unit power will be reduced as the price of the furnace oil has already declined," Jabed said.
On the other hand, 150MW Peaking Power Plant being set up by the government at Shikalbaha at a cost of Tk 534 crore is expected to generate power by April 2010.
Tulashi said construction
work of the plant with double-source, both fuel and gas, is going on in full scale.
He said the three plants would reduce the power crisis to a great extent bringing power shortage in Chittagong during the peak season to a minimum level.
Consumers in Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban are now facing 230MW to 240MW loadshedding at night and 120MWto 130MWin the
daytime.
Due to lack of sufficient gas and fall of water level at the Kaptai Lake, against the capacity of 766 MW of ten power units under the three existing power plants in Chittagong region only 120MW power is being generated in the daytime while on an average 220MW in peak hours of night from one plant at Raozan Thermal Power Plant and two units of Kaptai Hydroelectric Power Plants. The total
demand now stands at around 550MW.
National grid contributes 150MW to 160MWin the daytime and 120MW to 130MW in peak hours to raise the supply.
However, the PDB Chief Engineer (Generation) Tapan Kumar Chowdhury emphasised the need for proper maintenance of the existing plants since their productivity has been reducing gradually due to complications.