Deal likely with Chinese firm for another coal-fired power plant

The government is going to sign a deal with another Chinese company to set up a 1320MW coal-fired power plant at Maheshkhali Island in Cox's Bazar district, reports UNB.
According to official sources, the state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) will sign the deal in this regard with China Huadian Hong Kong Limited.
Both the companies will set up an ultra supercritical technology-based power plant at Maheshkhali in the southeastern coast of Bangladesh.
If signed, it will be the second deal of similar category as the state-owned North West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL) signed another deal with the state-owned China National Machinery Import Export Corporation (CMC) on March 19 last.
As per that deal, both the NWPGCL and the CMC will form a joint venture company to set up a similar 1320 MW coal-fired power plant in Patuakhali, a location also close to the Sundarbans.
About the planned deal, PDB officials said the Bangladeshi and Chinese officials completed initial negotiations, and they were likely to ink the agreement towards the end of the current month.
"If the planned deal is signed, the number of joint venture coal-fired power plants will reach three raising the total capacity to 3,960 MW as Bangladesh has already entered into a deal with Indian company NTPC to set up a 1320MW coal-fired plant at Rampal in Khulna," said a top PDB official.
He also said the government had drawn up a plan to create a coal-fired power plant hub in the country's southeastern coast of Maheshkhali and adjoining islands to generate 9,000-12,000 MW electricity from coal.
As part of the plan, the Japanese donor agency JICA has been conducting a feasibility study to assess the possibility of building a number of coal-fired power plants to meet the electricity demand.
Officials said all the three power plants had been undertaken by the government to implement through negotiations with foreign companies, not under any tender process.
In this regard, the foreign companies will take the prime responsibility of arranging financing for the projects, since the government is experiencing a cash crunch in implementing power plant projects.
Speaking as the chief guest at the function during signing the last deal with the Chinese company, Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury said the government had outlined its vision to generate 24,000 MW power by 2021 and 40,000 MW by 2041.