bd EnergY LinK

Purchase body approves Chinese
co for 2 peakers
Staff Correspondent

The cabinet committee on purchase on Thursday approved a Power Division proposal for awarding a Chinese company contracts worth about Tk 631 crore to install two 50MW furnace oil-fired peaking power plants.
The committee, headed by the finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, approved the proposal for the award of the turn-key contracts to the Gong Feng Electric Corporation of China to set up the plants at Santahar in Bogra and Katakhali in Rajshahi.
The Power Development Board, which selected the Chinese company in the second bidding for the plants, will award a Tk 319.94 crore contract for the Santahar plant and a Tk 311.86 crore contract for the Katakhali plant.
The committee earlier approved the power board’s selection of a consortium of Energypac in the first bidding. The consortium was selected by the power board to set up the Santahar plant at a cost of Tk 368.11 crore and the Katakhali plant at a cost of at Tk 350 crore.
But the company later refused to take the contracts.
As the power plants will be fired by furnace oil, the generation cost of the plants will be higher and the government will need either to give the power board subsidy for selling the electricity to consumers or to increase the electricity price.
Thursday’s meeting of the purchase committee also approved the procurement of 50,000 tonnes of wheat at a cost of Tk 85.303 crore from a local importer and 50,000 more tonnes from another importer at a cost of Tk 73.90 crore.
It also approved the procurement of 20,000 tonnes of boiled rice at a cost of Tk 97.70 crore.