Govt to set up 150MW power plant in Saidpur
The government is set to build a diesel-fired 150 megawatt power plant in Saidpur, the fuel for which will be imported from India.
The cabinet committee on economic affairs yesterday approved the proposal for setting up the power plant through financing under an export credit agency.
This means the power division will invite tenders and the successful bidder will arrange the financing for the power plant.
Fuel for the proposed power plant will be imported from Numaligarh in India through a 10-inch wide pipeline, according to the power division proposal.
Bangladesh and India formally launched the commercial supply of high speed diesel (HSD) during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's New Delhi visit in April. India plans to build a pipeline to carry HSD to Bangladesh.
Until the project is completed, HSD will be transported from Assam's Numaligarh refinery to Bangladesh via rail and one such consignment was flagged off by the two prime ministers.
The construction of a friendship pipeline to supply gasoil from Siliguri to Parbatipur will be financed by grant-in-aid, said Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Tuesday while delivering a lecture at National Defence College in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, the cabinet committee on purchase yesterday extended the tenure for importing 250MW power from India by another six months.
The price of electricity during this extended tenure will be Tk 6.06 per kW/h, down from the existing price of Tk 6.14.
Cooperation in the power and energy sectors has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years, Shringla said. “We are looking at a supply of close to 5,000MW of power to Bangladesh through various kinds of cooperation both in the public and private sectors,” he said, adding that 660MW of power is already flowing in from India.
He said India is looking at: supplying liquefied natural gas, gas grid interconnectivity between India and Jhenaidah-Khulna pipeline in Bangladesh, setting up a liquefied petroleum gas terminal by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd at Kutubdia; and construction of an LPG pipeline.
Also at yesterday's meeting, the cabinet committee on purchase approved a proposal for importing 50,000 tonnes of rice to increase the government's food stock.
The import price of rice per tonne would be $430, which will be supplied by Dubai-based Phoenix Global DMCC.
Six companies participated in the bidding: Singapore Food Corporation offered $465, Amir Chand Jagadish Kumar (Exports) Ltd $454, Desh Trading Co $453, Agrocorp International Pte Ltd $447.
On July 12, the total food stock in the government silos was 3.29 lakh tonnes, 1.62 lakh tonnes of which are rice, according to the food ministry proposal.