NTPC signed USD 1.5 bn power project in Bangladesh

NTPC signed USD 1.5 bn power project in Bangladesh on Sunday signed a USD 1.5 billion deal with India's NTPC to build a 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant, the country's biggest, to help ease acute power shortages.Bangladesh's state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) struck the 50:50 joint venture deal with India's public sector National Thermal Power Company (NTPC). Under the pact, a JV company will be floated to install and operate the plant while the PDB and the NTPC will implement the USD 1.5 billion project. PDB chairman A S M Alamgir Kabir and NTPC chairman Arup Roy Chowdhury signed the agreement here.Kabir said the plant will be set up at Bagerhat's Rampal and Bangladesh and India will have equal partnership in production. "We hope to supply electricity to the national grid by 2015," he said. India's power secretary Uma Shankar said the deal opened up a "great platform" for better cooperation between the two neighbours. The plant is expected to be commissioned by 2015. Of the total project cost, 70 per cent will be arranged through loans and the rest will be equally shared between the JV partners. "We expect that the most modern and new technology would be used in setting up the JV power plant that would help Bangladesh minimise its growing need of electricity," Bangladesh's Finance Minister A M A Muhith said. PDB officials said that cost of per unit electricity will vary from Taka 5 to Taka 7 if existing international market price of coal is taken into account."Coal will be imported to run the plant from Indonesia, Australia and South Africa to run the plant...we'll use local coal if we get supply as per the demand of the plant," the PDB chairman said. PDB and NTPC had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in August last year to establish two thermal power projects at Chittagong and Khulna for mitigating power shortages in Bangladesh.The two power plants are likely to come up at an investment of around Rs 13,200 crore.NTPC had earlier carried out feasibility study to install the coal-fired power plant at Rampal in coastal Bagerhat district.Currently, Bangladesh produces power from five types of fuels: gas is used for 82 per cent of power generated, furnace oil for 5 per cent, diesel for 7 per cent, while water and coal-based power make up for the remaining 3 per cent power generated.The country's present power production is slightly more than 5,000 MW against a daily demand of 7,000 MW.The government has undertaken plans to step up power production to 15,000 MW by 2016, Bangladeshi media reports said. To realise the plan, the government so far has signed agreements to set up 50 power stations. Among these, 17 are quick rental-based stations, three are rental based, 11 are independent power producers, while the other 19 are public. Bangladesh-India Joint Steering Committee on the power sector, which was formed during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010, decided to set up the JV. Bangladesh has so far five discovered coalmines having the total reserve of around 3.0 billion tonnes.At present, Bangladesh has only one coal-fired power plant, having the generation capacity of 250mw at Barapukuria in northwestern Dinajpur.Bangladesh currently can generate as high as 5300 mw in 37 public and private sector plants, mostly run by natural gas, and faced with a deficit of estimated 1,500 mw.