The government is all set to award a new furnace oil-fired power plant to Desh Energy to generate around 15 megawatt (MW) of electricity at Hatiya Island in Noakhali district.
State-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) had already completed negotiations with Desh Energy and a final agreement would be inked soon, said a senior official of Power Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR).
He said Desh Energy had been selected to build the power plant as independent power producer (IPP) under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act-2010 bypassing the tender.
The law has a provision of immunity to those involved with a quick fix.
The selected private entrepreneur would be allowed to import furnace oil to run the plant at a 9.0 per cent service charge to be paid by BPDB along with import costs of fuel as incentives.
Before selecting Desh Energy, BPDB had a series of discussions with a number of interested private entrepreneurs to build the power plant.
As part of its efforts to ensure electricity for all within this year, the government had decided to install the power plant by the private sector at the centre of Hatiya Island.
Once installed, the power plant is expected to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply at Hatiya Island, said the BPDB official.
Currently, BPDB has several 500-kilovolt (KV) units from where around 2.0-3.0 MW of electricity is being generated to meet the local demand.
There are also a good number of solar home systems (SHSs) to meet the electricity demand of the islanders.
Currently, there are 58 operational furnace oil-fired power plants across the country and these plants generate around 5,712 MW of electricity in total.
But BPDB keeps many of them shut or allow them to run below their capacity due to lower electricity demand and high generation cost from such plants.
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