Shahjibazar 50mw power unit starts operation by mid-Sept

FE Report | Published: August 29, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

One more small rental power plant, Shahjibazar 50-mw capacity power unit, is set to go into production by the middle of next month, easing the country's ongoing power crisis to some extent, sources said.

'After successful commercial operation of its Kumargaon 50MW unit, the Energy Prima is expected to launch its Shahjibazar unit by mid-September,' a Power Division official has said.

The unit is likely to go into partial operation within the first week of next month before the full operation, the official added.

The Shahjibazar plant is one of the six rental power units in the private sector approved by the government early this year.

Although the Shahjibazar unit was set to start operation in July, commissioning of the private sector power unit could not be possible due to some technical problems.

According to sources, the unit could not go into production in time primarily because of an inordinate delay in handover of lands for the projects by the authorities concerned.

Besides, an unrest between the project contractors concerned and Ansar men also halted the plant installation work for nearly 20 days, sources said.

Moreover, even though a 132-KVA power transformer was brought from abroad by air to pave the way for early installation of the Shahjibazar unit, the customs authority took 34 days to release the imported equipment due to non-availability of clearance from the Power Development Board.

Earlier, two such private small rental power plants (SRPPs)-- Energy Prima's Kumargaon 50 megawatt (mw) unit in Sylhet and Khulna 40mw power unit of the Agrico International - went into production.

Other rental power projects will take further time to start their production, sources said.

On January 15 last, the Power Development Board (PDB) signed contracts on six rental power units, having a total power generation capacity of 220mw.

As per the contracts, the rental plants were expected to go into operation within 120 days from the day of signing of the agreement.

Although the entrepreneurs, according to the related provision, are required to pay a significant amount of fine for the delay in launching the units, the authorities can refrain from charging such penalty, taking into consideration the delay in allocation of land and other 'unavoidable' circumstances, sources said.