At least 18 private power plants with the potential to generate 1,283MW of electricity are set to miss their commissioning deadlines between June and December as they have failed to arrange financing for the projects, according to the latest progress report of the power division New Age has seen.
The division has already started the process of realising a financial penalty from five of the companies, responsible for the implementation of seven of the projects, for their delay in submitting the necessary papers setting out their financial sources, the report said.
The report does not mention the names of the entrepreneurs involved in the 18 power plants.
Between mid-2011 and early 2012, the government awarded contracts for the construction of 22 medium-sized plants projects which would have a total capacity of 1,550MW in electricity to private firms.
The 22 projects were included within the government’s mid-term energy plan for implementation by December 2013. The plants were supposed to run either on furnace oil or natural gas.
According to the contracts, the state-run Power Development Board will buy electricity from the furnace oil-fired plants for 15 years and from the gas-ones fired for 22 years.
Power division officials blame the financial incapacity of the businessman who won the contracts as the main reason for the sluggish implementation of the government’s mid-term power plan.
Some of the entrepreneurs are yet to sign power sales or purchase agreements with the power board, a power division official told New Age.
‘Most of the deadlines for financial closure for the projects have already been extended. Except for one or two projects, overall progress in the implementation of the mid-term power plan by the private sector is very poor,’ he said.
He said that the plants would not come into operation during the tenure of the current government although they had been expected to supply electricity from early summer this year to alleviate power shortage.
At a meeting on Thursday, the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Md Enamul Huq, reportedly expressed dissatisfaction about the situation.
The delayed projects include the 54MW plant at Satkhira, two 52MW plants each at Natore, Bhairab in Kishoreganj, and Jangalia in Comilla, a 55MW plant in Manikganj, a 95MW plant at Jamalpur, a 100MW plant in Khulna, two 108MW plants at Basila and at Gabtali in Dhaka and a 149MW plant at Kaliakair in Gazipur.
Among the mid-term projects, the government estimated that only a 102MW plant at Gagannagar in Narayanganj, a 51MW plant at Ashuganj in Narsingdi, a 50MW plant at Patenga in Chittagong and a 108MW plant at Ghorasal in Narsingdi would come into operation by this year.
One 55MW plant each at Chapainawabganj and Manikganj and one 52.5MW plant each at Kathpatti in Munshiganj and Homna in Comilla have made little progress as the projects are till now confined to land development work. (Source)
