<i>Local engineers save Tk 100cr in foreign currency</i>
150MW Ashuganj power unit repaired in one-third of time sought by foreign experts
Foreign currency equivalent to Tk 100 crore has been saved as engineers and technicians of Ashuganj Power Station Company Limited (APSCL) have successfully repaired 150 megawatt Unit 3.
Local engineers and technicians completed the task in 85 days at a cost of Tk 29 lakh only while German firm Alstom, which also did overhauling work of the unit in 2003, had said it would take nine months for the purpose, said Md Nurul Alam, director (Technical) of APSCL.
As Unit 3, the 'best one' of all the eight units of APSCL, went out of order due to turbine fault on May 13 this year, the authorities urgently contacted German manufacturing company Alstom that supplied equipment of this unit and completed its instillation in 1986, APSCL office sources said.
Authorities of the foreign firm said it will take at least nine months for them to repair unit 3 while the cost would be at least 100 crore taka.
The foreigners earlier failed to complete work within the scheduled time. They took more than two years in doing overhauling of Unit -- 5 although it could be completed by one year, APSCL officials said.
Twenty-four engineers and technicians and several supporters from PDB under the supervision of engineer Md Nurul Alam, director (Technical) of APSCL, worked in two shifts for about 16 to 20 hours a day, leading to successful completion of the repair work in 85 days, APSCL sources said.
On August 9, they resumed functioning of the unit that is running under commissioning.
“Our engineers and technicians have worked with efficiency to repair Unit 3 of 150 MW. We are hopeful that the unit will go into production in full swing within three to four days,” APSCL Managing Director engineer Abdul Khaleque said.
The 678MW Ashuganj Power Station is now producing 500MW of electricity as seven other units of the station are running in full swing, APSCL sources said.
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