Government has decided to import 100,000 tonnes of coal to meet imminent demand, says State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid.
A tender has already been floated, he told the media on Sunday at his offices.
“The Barapukuria mine in Dinajpur may face problems any time, so we are importing coal as emergency measures, said Hamid
The Barapukuria Thermal Power Plant will go in production by September and operate in a full swing by the next month, he added.
Asked whether the subsidies on power will hike as the country has started supplying imported LNG to the national gas grid, Hamid confirmed that will not be the case and added, “Power prices will be reasonable as well.”
Responding to a query on cutting power prices, Hamid said, “It’s the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission’s call. We have forwarded a proposal keeping in the mind the consumers.”
On the Barapurkuria coal mine scam, he said it started from back in 2005.
“It took 30,000 trucks to transport the coal, which was removed from the mine. And it came in to light during the Sheikh Hasina administration.”
He added the matter would not have been revealed if the Barapukuria power plant was not forced to halt production due to fuel crisis.
Between 2001 and 2018, a total of 11 million tonnes of coal were extracted from the mine.
The mine authority supplied 6.7 million tonnes of coal to adjacent thermal power plant, sold 3.3 million to private sector and used 12,000 tonnes at the coal mine boiler.
According to the record, in the mine’s coal yard there should have a stock of 146,000 tonnes, but in reality, it’s only 3,000 tonnes.
There’s no trace of the remaining 144,000 tonnes amounted to about Tk 2.3 billion ($28 million).
On July 22, the state-owned coal-fired Barapukuria thermal power plant in Dinajpur’s Parbatipur was shut as the Barapukuria coal mine failed to supply the fuel required for electricity generation.
Two units of the plant, with the capacity of 125MW each, turned off while the other more efficient unit, with a capacity of 275MW, was starving of fuel and was only producing 150MW.
The plant, which depends on coal supplies from Boropukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL), requires 3,300 tonnes of coal a day.