The government is considering coal import from Australia, South Africa and Indonesia to re-initiate electricity generation from Barapukuria coal-fired power plant and resolve existing 'voltage' problem in northern region, said officials.
"Currently we don't have generation problem in northern region. But voltage instability in the region is a major concern," chairman of state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Khaled Mahmood told the FE on Monday.
Re-initiating electricity generation in Barapukuria coal-fired power plant is the solution, he said.
"We have already talked with state-run Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Roads & Highways Department to facilitate transportation of the imported coal," he said.
Mr Mahmood did not say anything about the quantity of coal or the import price.
Electricity supply situation in the country's northern region has been facing a major setback from last week as all the three units of Barapukuria thermal power plant having total capacity of 525 megawatt (MW) remained closed due to coal scarcity.
The 'missing' of around 142,000 tonnes of coal stock worth around Tk 2.27 billion from the BCMCL's coal storage yard a couple of weeks back pushed suspension of operation of the Barapukuria coal-fired power plant to uncertainty.
State-run Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) could detect this anomaly only a couple of weeks back when it initiated to assess the overall coal stock in the yard.
Officials said, the BCMCL coal storage yard should have a stock of around 142,000 tonnes of coal now according to its extraction and sells report.
Existing market price of coal is Tk 16,000 a tonne, they said.
The coal production of BCMCL remained suspended for more than a month as the equipment and machinery is being shifted from one coalface underground to another.
Coal extraction from the new phase is expected to start from mid-September meaning that the country would have no electricity generation from coal at least till then, said a senior BCMCL official.
The probe committee over the Tk 2.27 billion coal scam of the BCMCL submitted its report to the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) on Wednesday.
Separately, a senior BCMCL official lodged a case on Wednesday against 19 of its employees including its immediate past managing director over the scam.
Azizjst@yahoo.com