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RANGPUR, Dec 28 (BSS): Baropukuria Coal-Fired Power Plant (BCFPP) in Parbatipur Upazila of Dinajpur district goes into commercial production from the first week of the New Year.
Official sources said all preparations for launching the 250- megawatt (mw) plant have been completed and trial production began on November 15 last.
State Minister for Power Iqbal Hassan Mahmood is expected to inaugurate the much awaited event which will usher in a new era in the power generation sector of the country.
The BCFPP -- the first of its kind in the country -- will use locally extracted coal from nearby Baropukuria Coal Mine Project (BCMP) as fuel, said the officials.
They said over 97 per cent work on the Tk 16.34 billion (1,634 crore) project comprising two units have been completed with a Chinese supplier's credit of Tk 10.34 billion.
The government of Bangladesh is providing Tk 6.0 billion for the project from its own resources.
Everything is now set for commissioning of the first 125-mw unit of the 250-mw power plant. The second 125-mw unit will start by next February.
All necessary work, including erection of the long-distance high-voltage transmission line up to Alamnagar in Rangpur town to connect the supply line with the national grid, have also been completed.
A consortium of three Chinese companies -- China Machinery
Export and Import Company (CMC), Shenzen Electric Engineering Corporation (SEEC) and Shanghai Electric Corporation (SEC) -- is implementing the project under the supervision of Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB).
Industrialisation of the northern region will also be accelerated and entrepreneurs from both home and abroad may have the opportunity to invest in different sectors, including the high potentials agro-sector after commissioning of the unit, they said.
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