The government moves ahead faster to set up a 1400-megawatt coal-fed power plant at Maheshkhali Island with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) extending its financial support, officials said Tuesday.
Under the major power-sector project, they said, the Power Division had already requested the ADB to bankroll the first unit of half the capacity (700MW).
"The ADB has already agreed to provide US$300 million worth of funds for the first unit of the Maheshkhali 1400MW power plant," one of the senior officials of the power division told the FE.
He said they need actually more money for setting up the 1400MW coal-fired power plant. "We are hopeful that the ADB will extend its financial support in the future days for setting up the plant. Some other donors can also come forward as co-financers for the entire plant," the official added.
He said they had started feasibility study on the proposed power station at Maheshkhali, an island on the Bay of Bengal near Cox's Bazar, for estimating total fund and other requirements.
The ADB has already provided $1.0 million in grants for completing the feasibility study on the planned power project.
Meanwhile, an Economic Relations Division (ERD) official told the FE that they had also discussed with the Manila-based lender, ADB, the matter of financing the power station. The lender has assured of bankrolling the proje+ct partially.
Another Power Division official said the Maheshkhali would be country's new energy hub where another 1200MW coal-based power plant will be set up with the financial support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The government has already confirmed loan deal with JICA to set up the 1200MW power station at Matarbari of the Maheshkhali Island to develop a township and a coal-handling port.
The imported coal will be used at the Matarbari power plant as well as at the proposed Maheshkhali one, the power division official said.
The Power Division official said after confirming the loan from the ADB for the proposed first unit of the 1400MW plant at Maheshkhali, they would go for tendering and other necessary work to start construction of the plant.
The ERD official said the ADB already incorporated their $300 million financing plan into their three-year (2015-2017) country lending programme for Bangladesh.
"We are hopeful of getting the loan from the ADB after a fruitful negotiation for the Maheshkhali power plant as the country has a growing demand for electricity," he added.
The government in recent years has given maximum effort to construct coal-based power plants at different places in the country to reduce pressure on the country's depleting natural gas reserves as the primary fuel for power generation.
