The government is going to upgrade a 150MW gas turbine power plant into a 225MW combined cycle plant in Sylhet to mitigate the demand for electricity. The Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has taken up a project styled ‘Conversion of 150MW Sylhet Gas Turbine Power Plant to 225MW Combined Cycle Power Plant (2nd Revised)’ which will be implemented by June 2020.
The power plant is designed for efficient use of gas to generate more power using less amount of gas. Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will implement the project. It has signed an agreement with Shanghai Electric Group Company Ltd of China to implement the project.
Once it is implemented, it would be possible to add additional 75MW electricity to the national grid. The project estimate of Tk 910 crore will come from the government exchequer and organisation’s own funds.
Tk 424 crore has been allocated in the annual development programme (ADP) of fiscal 2019-20 for implementing the project in Kumargaon Mouza in Sylhet. According to the government’s 7th five year plan, 23000mw electricity would be generated by 2020 and 40000mw electricity by 2030.
If the project is implemented properly, the efficiency and capacity of the plant will increase and generation capacity will rise by 75MW. Meanwhile, the project was first approved in early February 2013 to be implemented during January 2013 to December 2014 period at an estimated cost of Tk 707.53 crore with financial assistance from Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
After a tussle with the financier regarding the project’s evaluated tender, the government first revised the project to implement it with PDB’s own money kept in power maintenance and development fund of Bangladesh Energy Regulation Commission (BERC) instead of IDB’s loan, sources said.
The completion deadline saw two time extensions, first one by two and a half years and later by two years until June this year under the project’s first revision. The project was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in its last meeting.
