Construction of the 330-megawatt (MW) dual-fuel combined cycle power plant in Khulna is likely to be delayed further, as the implementing authority has sought to add three gas booster compressors to it midway.
The state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) floated tender last week for design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the compressors within eighteen months of inking deal.
"We have planned to procure three gas boosters after having confirmation of getting natural gas supply," BPDB Chairman Md Belayet Hossain told the FE on Sunday.
These compressors will help smooth running of the power plant with natural gas, he justified.
Implementation of this power plant has already been delayed, as its initial commissioning date was June 2019.
Sources said the BPDB sought 20 per cent higher fund and extension of project completion period by three more years in 2018, one year before the initial project completion deadline.
Chinese consortium of Harbin Electric International Co Ltd (HEI) and Jiangsu Etern Co Ltd was selected by the BPDB as the contractor to build the power plant.
The contractor is committed to finance the project. Chinese Exim Bank is funding the project as the Export Credit Agency (ECA), as per the agreement.
The BPDB inked deal with the Chinese consortium on November 17, 2016 to set up the plant's simple cycle unit within 15 months, and combined cycle unit within 30 months.
Total cost of the project was about US$ 400 million, equivalent to Tk 32.53 billion, of which Chinese Exim Bank was supposed to provide $304 million or Tk 23.70 billion, equivalent to 85 percent of the turnkey contract cost.
Loan confirmation by the contractor was initially delayed, resulting in the overall setback of the power plant project.
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