India, Bangladesh power venture to come up in Chalna

DHAKA - Chalna, a port town in southwestern Bangladesh, will be the location for a proposed 1,310 megawatt coal-fired power plant to be set up as a joint venture between Bangladesh and India, an official said Sunday.

A joint technical committee comprising officials of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India visited the site last week.

“We will install the power plant at Chalna. It will be a two-unit power plant on equal equity basis,” A.S.M. Alamgir Kabir, chairman of BPDB, told BSS, the official news agency of Bangladesh.

According to official sources, the NTPC team has suggested that BPDB engage local consultants for the feasibility study on socio-environmental and ecological impact of the power plant.

It also suggested engaging a consultant to work out the coal transportation plan.

“We do not have enough idea about coal handling, it would be a huge power plant and we need to import huge quantity of coal, depot it and to transport it. So, they suggested to us to work on the issue,” he said.

The committee has started feasibility study and hopefully sign the joint venture agreement soon, he said.

The committee also worked on the grid inter-connection between India and Bangladesh as well as co-operation between NTPC and BPDB.

Bangladesh and India signed a memorandum of understanding on exchange of power during off-peak hours (17 hours a day) when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited India in January this year.