Power generation at Matarbari plant halts

NAZIMUDDIN SHYAMOL | Published: November 02, 2024 23:34:10

CHATTOGRAM, Nov 02: The production of two units of the Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal-Fired Power Plant has been stopped due to a coal shortage with effective from Saturday.
The Matarbari power plant had been receiving its coal supply from Japan's Sumitomo Corporation. The contract for 2,205,000 MT of coal with the Japanese company ended back in August after the delivery of the last consignment.
The coal supply has now been completely exhausted, which led to the complete shutdown of the power generation. However, the authorities expect that they will find a solution by the end of this month when new coal supply arrives, but power production is likely to remain suspended this month.
Sources said that the Matarbari mega project, funded through loans, is now riddled with irregularities and corruption. Each of the two units of the plant requires around 6,500 to 7,000 MT of coal every day.
Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) was expected to initiate coal purchases through a tender process before Sumitomo's supply contract expired in August. However, the former project director allegedly delayed the process to invite international tender for a three-year coal supply deal by 10 months to 'illegally benefit' a specific company.
Later, in response to a petition from another contracting company alleging these irregularities, the High Court imposed a six-month ban on coal imports in July. Although the Supreme Court later stayed the ban, long-term coal import process has been facing uncertainty since then. Now, the authority is taking steps to import coal by the end of this month after completing all the necessary procedures.
The Matarbari project is designed to generate 1,200 MW of power over a period of seven years with the funding provided by JICA.
Japan's Sumitomo, Toshiba, and IHI are collaborating as a consortium to implement the project, with POSCO E&C as subcontractor to construct the major part of the plant. As part of
its commitment to supporting the region's economy, POSCO E&C has employed some 4,000 local workers daily on average.
This project is being implemented to meet the growing electricity demand and to ensure stable power supply. The total cost of the project is estimated at Tk 518.5488 billion while the implementation period spans from July 2014 to December 2026.
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