The government will seek approval for the first revision of the Aminbazar-Maowa-Mongla Transmission Line Project today as it increases the cost by 85 per cent and extends the deadline by six months. 

The planning commission is going to table the project at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council. Because of the revision, the expenditure would go up to Tk 2,505.37 crore from the original Tk 1,356.59 crore.

Of the total cost, Tk 897.32 crore will come from the government and the rest Tk 1,270.69 crore from Asian Development Bank as project loans.  

The cost of the project is set to rise as the route of the under-construction Aminbazar-Maowa-Mongla 400-kV line has changed. Now, power would be transmitted from Mongla to Aminbazar via Gopalganj sub-station, according to the proposal of the planning ministry.

The project would transmit power from the Rooppur nuclear power plant in Pabna and coal-based power plants in Khulna and Payra of Patuakhali and supply electricity to Dhaka and neighbouring areas through the Gopalganj sub-station.

An official of the planning ministry said instead of setting up separate lines to transmit power to be generated at the coal-based power plants in Payra and Khulna and the nuclear power plant in Rooppur, a provision has been made to construct high-capacity power lines to supply electricity through the substation in Gopalganj.

In this context, the planning commission has recommended the revised proposal.

In order to transmit power from the plants, the revised development project plans to use higher capacity and expensive ACCC (Aluminum Conductor Composite Core) cables instead of ACSR (Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced) cables as proposed in the original plan. This would raise the cost of the electrical accessory component of the project by Tk 658.65 crore to Tk 1,126.69 crore.

The length of the route has expanded as well. The project implementing agency, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, would need to use 209 towers of higher elevation on the route to help the transmission line make it overthe approach road of the Padma Bridge, railways and flyovers. This would increase the cost by Tk 94.86 crore.

The expenditure against customs duties would increase to Tk 219.71 crore from Tk 142.52 crore and the expenses for income taxes and value-added taxes would go up to Tk 155.52 crore from Tk 115.33 crore.

The duration of the project has been extended by six months to December 2021.

The government has allocated Tk 560 crore from the annual development programme in the current fiscal year. Of the sum, Tk 250 crore would come from the state coffer and the remainder as project assistance.

The first unit of the 1,320-MW plant in Payra went into production in January. The 1,320MW Rampal project in Bagerhat is scheduled to start producing power from next year, while the deadline of the 2,400-MW Rooppur plant is December 2025.