Another power plant on way

The government is set to take up yet another power project at Ashuganj at a cost of Tk 2,931 crore in a bid to enhance the country's energy capacity in line with its growth ambitions.

Of the amount, 80 percent will come from the Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank.

The project, Ashuganj 400 megawatt Combined Cycle Power Plant (East), is due to be placed at today's meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council for its approval.

The new power plant would have a 289-megawatt capacity gas turbine and a 135MW power generation capacity steam turbine.

The project is scheduled for completion by 2020, when the government has a target of supplying 24,000MW electricity to the national grid.

While Ecnec has approved big power projects in the past, their pace of implementation has been slow, due to which the tenure of the high-cost quick rental power plants has been extended again.

For instance, in 2011 an initiative to set up a combined cycle power plant at Ashuganj (North) with the generation capacity of 450MW was taken.

It was scheduled for completion in June this year, but as of March, only Tk 720 crore was spent from its budget of Tk 3,400 crore. This fiscal year, Tk 660 crore has been allocated to the project.

The ADB and the IDB have been financing 88 percent of this project too.

The project will be implemented by Ashuganj Power Station Company, which also has a 671MW plant at the site.