Consortium led by Unique Hotel to set up 600MW power plant

A consortium led by Unique Hotel & Resorts will set up a 600 megawatt power plant based on gas or regasified liquefied natural gas (RLNG) at Meghnaghat of Narayanganj.

The cabinet committee on purchase yesterday gave go-ahead to the proposal of the consortium which will run the plant for 22 years on build-own-operate basis.

The other two members of the consortium are: Guayama PR Holdings BV and Strategic Finance Ltd.

The committee took the decision at its meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

If gas is used in electricity production, per kilowatt/hour (kW/h) of power will cost 3.6923 cents or Tk 2.9538 while the tariff will hit 6.8098 cents or Tk 5.4478 if RLNG is used.

The company will set up necessary transmission lines and sub-stations at its own cost. The demand for electricity increases every year by 10-15 percent, the power division said in its proposal.

At present, the country has the

capacity of producing 16,046 megawatt of power, which needs to be increased to 24,000MW to supply power to all by 2021, it said.

Bangladesh now produces 1,200 MW less power than its capacity due to lack of gas and the amount reaches 2,000 MW when fertiliser factories remain open.

Initiative has been taken to meet the huge demand for power by setting up gas/RLNG-based power plants, according to the proposal.

The committee also approved a proposal to pay Tk 33.42 crore to Russia's Rostechnadzor as consultancy fee for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

The government would pay a total of Tk 1,354 crore to Rostechnadzor in 11 years from January 2016.