The completion of a 300-megawatt power plant project in Anwara Upazila of Chittagong is likely to miss the deadline.
Suspension of work for the last three months over a land dispute between the project sponsor and the state-owned Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Limited (CUFL) has created a sort of uncertainty.
Sources concerned said United Enterprises & Company Limited, a subsidiary of United Group, obtained the project work and signed a contract with Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) on November 13, 2016 to implement the furnace oil-based power plant within 15 months.
But the commercial operation date (COD) was later rescheduled and fixed at February 11, 2019.
On behalf of the government, the PDB has signed a contract with United Group to purchase electricity from the project.
As per the revised COD, the power project has less than a year to be completed.
An official document of the Power Division shows that there was no progress in the project implementation other than appointment of an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractor by the sponsor until January 21.
The document on the overall progress of Large IPP (independent power producer) and large public sector power projects was placed before a review meeting of the Power Division held on January 21 last.
The government awarded the contract to United Group to implement the project on a fast-track basis.
A PDB senior official said the CUFL and United Group have been at loggerheads over 1.4 acres of land located in the project area. The PDB official informed that the CUFL authorities closed a half-km approach road to the power project few months back claiming that about 1.4 acres of its land were illegally occupied by the power project developer. Following the closure of the road, work on the power plant project came to a halt virtually.
After the incident, the power plant sponsor approached the local administration to resolve the problem with the government fertiliser factory. The Deputy Commissioner of Chittagong has also taken a move to resolve the dispute. But it still remained unsettled as both sides stuck to their own positions.
The problem was later addressed to the Industries Ministry, which owns the CUFL.
When contacted, PDB Project Director Golam Haider Talukder, who is assigned for the scheme, admitted that the stalemate still continues over the land dispute.
He also expressed his apprehension that the project might not be implemented within the stimulated timeframe if the dispute is not settled, reports UNB.
However, United Group claimed that the work on the project will be completed within the contract period.
Sheikh Ashraf Hossain, a top official at United Group responsible for the project execution, said they have still enough time to implement the project as per the schedule. "We're still confident that we'll be able to start the commercial operation of the project as per the contract with the PDB," he told the news agency.
He denied any dispute regarding the land, saying the CUFL will be compelled to open the road when they need to use it.
Ashraf also said they have enough experience of doing the job in a short time -- less than a year. "We'll mobilise both manpower and equipment in such a manner so that the job is done in the stipulated time," he added.