Summit plans to raise funds from Singapore bourse

Summit Group, a conglomerate in the power sector, is eyeing a listing on the stock exchange of Singapore to raise capital for future energy projects in Bangladesh.

“We have already started discussions with the authorities concerned in Singapore to facilitate the listing there,” Summit Group Chairman Muhammed Aziz Khan told a group of reporters in Dhaka last week.

Khan talked about his company's latest project, the Summit Bibiyana II 341 megawatt power plant in Habiganj, as well as future plans.

The Summit Bibiyana II plant is providing electricity at the lowest tariff of Tk 1.51 per kilowatt hour, which is about one-fourth of the country's average electricity generation cost of Tk 6 per unit.

The project's total cost was $300 million. Multilateral donor agencies -- the Asian Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation and the Islamic Development Bank -- provided $210 million once the 222MW simple cycle unit was built by the company.

This is the largest amount of direct loan given to any Bangladeshi private sector project by any of the three development agencies.

The plant, which is the country's largest independent power producer, was supposed to generate 341MW of electricity.

But with a highly efficient 9FA gas turbine, the plant is regularly generating more than 355MW and has gone as high as 393MW, said Md Jahir Uddin Mollah, general manager of Summit Bibiyana II Power Company Ltd.

He said it offers the lowest electricity tariff in Bangladesh, effectively mitigating the country's current power shortage.

It earns top mark from the perspective of environment, climate-change and fuel-efficiency. “The country is benefiting hugely as we are producing more power,” said Reaz Uddin, chief operating officer of the plant.

Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation Ltd owns 80 percent of the project and US conglomerate General Electric the remaining 20 percent.

A consortium -- First Northeast Electric Power Engineering Corporation --formed by China Energy Engineering Group and China Energy Engineering Group Co Ltd built the power plant as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

The contractor will hand over the operations and maintenance charge within a month or two.

The power plant has been implemented on build, own and operate basis pursuant to a 22-year implementation agreement.

It consumes between 1.22 million and 1.42 million cubic metre of gas per day, with the supply coming from Bibiyana gas field.

The efficient technology saves up to 13 percent gas, officials said. 

It only consumes 400 tonnes of water per hour for cooling and plant use. The water comes from the nearby Kushiyara river.

The plant began the simple cycle commercial operation on June 6 last year and the combined cycle operation on December 26, well ahead of schedule, said Mollah.

Khan said the group is interested in purchasing coal mines in Australia and Indonesia and import liquefied natural gas to meet the country's rising energy demand.

“Providing primary energy will be the country's biggest challenge.”

Summit, with more than 25 years of experience, is a group of companies owned by Summit Industrial and Mercantile Corporation Ltd. Its investments are diversified across power, energy trading, port, telecommunications, hospitality and real estate.

Summit Power has 14 power projects, generating 1,427MW of electricity, which is nearly 20 percent of the country's total electricity.

So far, Summit has invested more than $1.2 billion in the country and employs 5,000 people.