The government on Wednesday approved a BPDB proposal for setting up a gas or Regasified Liquified Natural Gas (RLNG) based 660 MW power plant worth Tk 69,152.16 crore at the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase meeting.
According to the proposal, the government will buy the electricity from the approved projects for the next 22-year period.
After a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Purchase, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said the government will build more power plants based on alternative fuel, to make up for the cancellation of coal-based power plants.
However, he said the government has cancelled eight coal-fired power projects from its plan in line with the international opinion that those are harmful for the environment.
"A consortium of Confidence Power Holdings Ltd, GE Capital US Holding Inc, Confidence Power Ltd, and Electropac Industries Ltd has been given the go-ahead to set up the gas or RLNG based power plant," Minister Mustafa Kamal said.
Meanwhile, the government has also given tenure extension of the gas-based
four rental power plants on no electricity, no pay basis at the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase meeting.
Justifying the necessity of this extension, Kamal said the cancellation of the coal-fired power plants was also a reason for the extension of the rental power plants. He, however, said the extension would not cost the government more. "The term has been extended on 'no power, no payment' basis," he said.
In response to a question on raising electricity price, the Minister said, "No such proposal has come to us at the moment." If the price increases, it will be announced, he added.
Finance Minister Mustafa Kamal said, "We won't have to pay extra charges for their operations. Only electricity will be paid." He said the tenure of many rental power plants have already expired and they have realised capital costs and all other expenses.
"The plant owners have also agreed to cut around 10 per cent tariff from the existing rate," the Finance Minister said.
According to the Finance Minister, a 53 MW gas-based rental power plant at Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria, sponsored by United Energy Ltd, has been extended for five years.
Tk 451.20 crore will be spent to buy electricity from the plant, he added.
He mentioned that the Kumargaon 50 MW gas-based rental power plant, located in Sylhet sadar upazila, gets a tenure extension of one year, until December next year, from where the government will buy electricity at a cost of Tk 86.52 crore.
He said another gas-based 50 MW rental power plant of Energy Prima Ltd at Fenchuganj in Sylhet gets a tenure extension of three years.
The extension will cost the exchequer Tk 278.64 crore for buying electricity, he added.
He said the another 20 MW gas-based rental power plant run by Energy Prima Ltd in Bogura district, has also been extended for three more years.
The government will buy electricity from the plant at Tk 106.92 crore, he added.
The Minister said country will have to set up some more power plants to meet demand as the government has stopped giving approval to new coal-based power plants in line with its commitment to saving the planet from the impacts of climate change.
Briefing journalists after the meeting virtually, Cabinet Division Additional Secretary Md Shamsul Arefin said a total of 12 proposals were approved in the meeting as one proposal from the Shipping Ministry was withdrawn from the meeting.
