PDB signs deals for three power plants

The Power Development Board (PDB) yesterday signed contracts with two private consortiums to set up three independent power plants with combined capacity of 302 megawatts.
The plants with 99.38MW, 94.84MW and 108MW will be set up in Khulna, Jamalpur and Chittagong by November 2012, PDB said in a statement.
Malaysia's Mutiara Consolidated Sdn Bhd and Power Pac Holdings, a sister concern of local business house Sikder Group, will set up the Khulna furnace oil-based plant. The Jamalpur plant will be based on dual fuel.
PDB will buy each unit of electricity from the Khulna plant at average tariffs of Tk 6.69 while the Jamalpur plant's tariff is Tk 6.98.
A consortium of Bangladesh Confidence Cement Ltd, UK-based Rurelec Plc and Bangladesh's Energy Pac Generation Ltd will set up the furnace oil-based Chittagong project. The power board will purchase each unit of power from the port city plant at Tk 7.02.
PDB Secretary M Azizul Islam, Power Pac Holdings Managing Director Ron Haque Sikder and Confidence Group's Managing Director Imran Karim signed the contracts at Bidyut Bhaban in the city.
“The country used to produce 3,300 megawatts of electricity daily when we came to power. Now it is 5,175 megawatts a day, which will cross the 6,000-megawatt mark by yearend,” said Prime Minister's Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury.
Public and private enterprises have so far invested $4 billion in the power sector during the present government regime, Chowdhury added.