Examinees suffer as load-shedding surpasses 500MW

Load shedding in Dhaka city and elsewhere in the country has been rising following the closure of operation, due to a fire incident, of Meghnaghat 450 megawatt (MW) power plant. All the three units of the combined cycle power plant had to be shutdown immediately after fire broke out at its steam turbine unit on Monday evening, pushing up load shedding since then and augmenting sufferings of the people as sweltering heat has become almost unbearable, disrupting life, particularly hampering studies of the HSC examinees. According to official sources, the extent of load shedding in the city has gone up to about 550 MW from last week's below 200 MW. Neither the officials of the Power Development Board (PDB), nor the operator of the Meghnaghat power plant could say when the plant would be able to resume its operation. “We’re not in any position to give an idea of the plant’s resumption of operation. Until the completion of a full assessment, we’ll not get any idea of the plan’s condition,” said Ahmed Shah, country director of the Malaysian Pendeker Energy, the sponsor of the plant. He informed that an inspection team from the insurance companies is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on Thursday to asses the damage to the plant and make a report on the condition. PDB officials said they also have no idea about the plant’s return to operation as it is operated by a private company. But an official, who visited the plant believed that it would be difficult to resume operation of the plant within next six months as it suffered a big damage. He informed that about 74 million cubic feet of gas, used in the Meghnaghat power plant, is not being diverted to other power plants in Haripur and Siddhirganj power stations in Narayanganj area to increase their production. The officials of all the distribution entities admitted that the closure of the Meghnaghat plant has shot up the extent of outage, according to a news agency.