Shamim Jahangir

The government is likely to claim the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) benefit from developed countries to establish four coal-based power plants having capacity of producing 5,00MW of electricity each by 2014 through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

A meeting will be held to discuss establishment of the four coal-fired power plants next week at Power Division in the Secretariat, an official of the ministry told The New Nation yesterday.

A shell company (SPV) will be formed initially for preparing proposals on establishment of the plants, he said.

"We will prepare our strategy to establish the four coal-fired power plants within the next week," he said adding several companies have already expressed their interest to establish the four coal-fired power plants through PPP. "But we will invite companies who have experienced in power production through floating tender," he said.

The proposed four power plants would be established near Chittagong and Khulna port, Mawna/ Jazira and Meghnagat with the estimated cost of nearly Tk 2,000 crore.

For imported coal, port is the best location or large river with adequate draft and port facility will be required, Power Division sources said. "So we will choose the port site and river side areas to establish the power plants," he said.

The power plants efficiency will be between 42 per cent and 45 per cent, Power Development Board Chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir said.

The Power Division would require 6 million tonnes of imported coal for the four power plants every year to produce 2,000MW of electricity, a top official of the ministry said.

The Power Division has already formed a committee led by Additional Secretary Syed Monjurul Islam to find out the ways about procurement of coal for these power plants.