Private consortium to build 660MW power plant at Mirsarai

The Bangladesh Power Development Board under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) has initiated to set up a 660-MW gas / RLNG (R-liquefied Natural Gas) combined cycle power plant at Mirsarai in Chittagong, an official of the MPEMR said.

The project will jointly be implemented by a Consortium of Confidence Power Holdings Limited, GE Capital US Holding Inc., Confidence Power Limited and Electrapack Industries Limited.

BPDB’s project proposal will be placed before a cabinet committee on public purchase meeting on Wednesday. The meeting will be presided over by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.

As per the proposal, the private sector consortium will build the power plant on Build-Own-and-Operate basis under the Private Sector Power Generation Policy of Bangladesh-1996.

In 2018, the consortium had submitted an unsolicited proposal to set up a 660-MW dual fuel based combined cycle power plant. The sponsor for the power evacuation of the proposed power plant at its own cost and on its own initiative subject to construction of necessary transmission lines, sub-stations and supply of gas / R-LNG in the proposed project.

The Division of Energy and Mineral Resources on 21 January 2021 commented on the supply of gas to the proposed power plant. The consortium will pay Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company Limited (KGDCL) and use their natural gas.

The BPDB proposal also said a meeting of the proposal processing committee was held on June 10, 2021 on the recommendation of the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources, BPDB, PGCB and Technical Committee.

The meeting discussed in detail the experience of the organization, its financial capability and technical qualifications, project site, initial environment impact assessment and other aspects of the projects.

At the negotiation meeting, the sponsor agreed to reduce the price offered at the initial stage. BPDP submitted a tender on June 28. The gas-based levelized tariff charge per megawatt hour is 3.679 US cents, equivalent to Tk 2.9432 in Bangladeshi currency and the RLNG-based per-megawatt levelized tariff is 6.796 US cents equivalent to Tk 5.4368 Bangladeshi currency.

It may be cited here that in the latest tender, the government has considered a tax exemption for four years and nine months following the commercial operation of the plant.