Bangladesh is considering importing coal from three countries with Indonesia as its first priority in the wake of the shutdown of production at the Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant in Dinajpur.
“The government prefers Indonesia, if that’s no feasible the next choices are Australia and South Africa,” Director General of Power Cell Mohammad Hossein told Bangla Tribune.
He added “reasonable cost” was the factor in deciding to import coal.
On Saturday, Power Division Secretary Ahmed Kaikaus said that they would go for importing to run the power plant as supply has been disrupted from the local Barapukuria Coal Mine.
The 525MW thermal power plant had been running on coal supplied from the mine, but it had to shut production on Jul 22 due to lack of fuel.
Sources at Power Division said that importing coal from Indonesia to Chattogram Sea Port cost $59.7 per tonne in 2015, which will gradually increase to $75 by 2020, $90.3 by 2025 and $136.4 by 2040.
Importing coal from Australia to Chattogram cost $81.5 per tonne in 2015, which will increase to $103.3 by 2020, $125 by 2025 and $190.7 by 2040, according the power division sources.