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Rooppur will be ready on time
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power plant under construction into the status of a nuclear facility and make Bangladesh a member of the “nuclear community”.
The first unit of the Rooppur nuclear power plant was scheduled to start commissioning in March next year and the other unit a year later.
Another fast-track project, the Tk 16,000 crore Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant in Rampal, is yet to begin full-swing operation for lack of transmission facilities and dredging in the Pashur river, according to the IMED report.
The project’s physical progress is 94.64 percent and financial progress is 89.93 percent.
The deadline for the project was February 2023, and one unit of the plant has already gone into operation in December last year. However, it is yet to reach its maximum production capacity, the IMED report said.
For power supply from the plant, a 400 kV Ameenbazar line and a 230 kV Khulna line have been readied.
However, it has not been possible to supply full evacuation from the operational unit. On the other hand, when the Payra plant is operational, less electricity from the Rampal plant can be supplied through the Ameenbazar line, the IMED report said.
Besides, coal supply to the Rampal plant has been interrupted as navigability in the Pashur river has reduced amid a lack of dredging. Dredging in the Pashur river will not begin before June 2024, according to the Mongla port authority.
“There is no limitation to evacuating the power from Payra and Rampal -- we are transmitting what they are producing,” AKM Gause Mohiuddin Ahmed, managing director of PGCB, told The Daily Star.
He said the IMED report might be dated.
“We have issued the clearance a long time back that we can evacuate the total electricity from both the Payra and Rampal power plants,” Ahmed added.
The second unit of the Rampal plant is expected to go into commercial operation in October this year. The plant will require about 80 lakh tonnes of coal in the next three years as fuel consumption.
For uninterrupted coal supply, the IMED suggested the Bangladesh Bank ensure adequate dollars.
However, one of the fast-track projects, the much-talked-about Padma bridge, was opened for vehicular movement in June last year -- which is ahead of schedule. Only 1 percent of the physical work now remains, while the financial progress for the project is 89 percent.
The Tk 39,246 crore Padma Bridge Rail Link Project saw 81 percent physical progress and 75.5 percent financial progress, according to the report.
As of July, the Tk 4,374.47 crore Payra deep seaport project achieved 90 percent physical progress and 86 percent financial progress.
The Tk 33,461 crore Dhaka Metro Rail project, known officially as the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project Line 6, has recorded physical progress of 78 percent and financial progress of 68 percent.
Metro is running from Uttara to Agargaon, and from October, it will be ferrying passengers up to Motijheel. The rest of the line -- from Motijheel to Kamlapur -- is under construction.
Another project the Moheskhali-Matarbari Integrated Infrastructure Development project has 12 components including a 1,200 MW power plant.
The Tk 51,854 crore project has made 77.70 percent physical progress and 64.91 percent financial progress.
The project was undertaken in 2014 with a deadline set for full implementation by December 2026.
The physical progress of the Matarbari port and the power plant is 94 percent and the power plant’s initial synchronisation has been completed, the IMED report said.
With the power evacuation line completed, the power plant has a target to start producing electricity in December.
The Tk 18,034 crore Single Line Dual Gauge Railway Track from Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar saw 87 percent physical progress and 44 percent financial progress. The railway is likely to be opened in September.
However, a project official said the cost is likely to be slashed by $400 million as it is yet to be decided whether one of the components -- a 28-km railway from Ramu to Gundam near Myanmar -- would be constructed.
The total cost for the eight projects is Tk 308,676 crore, 67 percent of which has been spent as of July, according to the report.

Spain clinch
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“We had the feeling we were going to do it.”
England had the first sniff of a chance but Lauren Hemp shot weakly at goalkeeper Cata Coll.
There was little to choose between them in the opening exchanges before both teams had golden opportunities on the quarter-hour mark.
Spain, who had never won a knockout game at the Women’s World Cup until this tournament and had lost 4-0 to Japan in the group phase, went ahead just before the half-hour mark.
With 20 minutes left, Spain were awarded a penalty after a long VAR review decided Keira Walsh had handled in the box.
But Jennifer Hermoso’s penalty was weak and Earps saved comfortably to keep England hopes alive.
But despite 13 minutes of injury time, England rarely threatened and it was an assured Spain who held on comfortably, looking the more likely to score.