Reliance to set up 750MW plant in N'ganj

Indian Reliance Group has drawn up a plan to set up a 750 megawatt power plant, to be run on imported liquefied natural gas (LNG), at Meghnaghat of Narayanganj.

The Power Division has sent a proposal to the Cabinet Division in this regard for approval by the cabinet committee on purchase, said a Power Division official.

According to the proposal, the government will purchase electricity from Reliance at 7.31 US cents (Tk 5.85) per KW/h.

The Indian company seeks to set up the power plant after relocating some machinery from its plant in South India to Bangladesh.

The Reliance had put forward a proposal to the government to set up a 3,000 MW power plant in Bangladesh based on imported LNG. In June 2015, Bangladesh Power Development Board had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Reliance Power Ltd in this regard.

The Power Division official said the main equipment of the proposed 750 MW plant would be relocated from India to Bangladesh, but the Reliance would have to submit performance certificates from the equipment manufacturers.

The Prime Minister's Office might give permission to Reliance to produce 750 MW on condition that it would use imported LNG for generating power, added the official.

According to a power ministry official, the Reliance has to build a floating terminal in Moheshkhali of Cox's Bazar to facilitate import of LNG from the Middle East.

The Reliance will have to unload the LNG and convert it into natural gas in Moheshkhali. The company would require a pipeline to supply the gas to Meghnaghat from Moheshkhali.

The state-run Petrobangla will install a gas pipeline from Moheshkhali to Bakhrabad. The Gas Transmission Co Ltd (GTCL) will build another gas pipeline from Kutumbupur of Bakhrabad to Meghnaghat with its own fund to supply gas to the power plant. The Reliance will pay charges to the GTCL for using the pipeline, the ministry official told The Daily Star.

A Power Division official said the 750 MW power plant might go into production after 2019.

Under the MoU of 2015, the Indian company has also proposed to build three more power plants in Chittagong and Narayanganj to produce another 2,250 MW of electricity.

It has estimated a cost of $2.35 billion for setting up the four power plants and the LNG terminal.