bd EnergY LinK

360MW combined cycle plant to be installed at Bheramara
Staff Correspondent
The newly formed North West Power Generation Company, a subsidiary of the Power development Board, will install a 360MW combined cycle power plant at Bheramara in Kushtia with a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said the company’s officials.
Two Japanese power companies, Tokyo Electric Power Services Company Ltd and Tokyo Electric Power Company Ltd, have already carried out a feasibility study for the power plant which will be installed near the 60MW Bheramara plant.
The NWPGC, which needs a consultant, on Saturday invited applications from engineering companies.
‘The consultant will prepare the bid documents and evaluate the bids, and prepare the design and drawings for the power plant and oversee the installation work,’ said an official.
The project director of NWPGC for the Bheramara project, Md Mujibur Rahman, told New Age that once the consultant was appointed, they would float the tenders for appointing turnkey contractors for the power plant.
He said that JICA would provide the necessary fund for installation of the power plant but the amount of loan was yet to be finalised.
Mujibur Rahman also expressed the hope that the power plant would come into operation by 2015.
It will be the second 360MW combined cycle power plant for which JICA is giving a loan as the Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh has already taken steps to install a similar 360MW plant at Haripur with JICA’s loan.
Officials of EGCB said that they had already appointed an engineering consultant and asked power companies to submit pre-qualification bids for installation of the plant on January 10.
They said that the JICA has already signed an agreement for providing around Tk 3,000 crore for the Haripur 360MW plant.
Officials of the Power Development Board, however, are still sceptical about the availability of gas for both the projects as Petrobangla is struggling to supply gas to the existing power plants.
Mujibur Rahman said that they were optimistic that they would get gas for their power project because some old power plants will become inoperative by the time the Bheramara plant comes into operation.
He said that the power plants would have the dual-fuel option (gas and liquid oil).