Coal-based production to help energy crisis

Coal-based production to help energy crisis
ET Report

The political parties should have a minimum consensus on national issues in a bid to speed up economic development of the country, said Syed Ershad Ahmed, President of American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh while talking to this correspondent recently.
He expressed the view that politicians should reduce their differences of opinion on energy issue and work together to develop this sector protecting national interest.
He opined that the government should have a short-, mid- and long-term strategy to overcome the nagging power crisis that is seriously hampering industrial production and civic life.
He suggested that a committee comprising professionals should be set up that will send recommendations to the parliament standing committee on energy and power.
The treasury and opposition benches would discuss the matter in detail in the national parliament and should recommend necessary steps to develop the energy sector.
The economic development of the country is highly linked with the expansion and development of power sector, he said.
On deep sea port, he said that Bangladesh economy would be immensely benefited by becoming a regional hub of shipping business in the region.
Laying stress on the parliamentary democracy in the country, Ershad opined that a vibrant parliament should be the focal point of discussing issues related to the national interest.
Criticizing the culture of boycotting Parliament by MPs on mere excuses, he clearly stated that the people of Bangladesh have elected them to discuss national issues relating to education, health, social security, job creation, national security, environment, etc. in the assembly.
Laying stress on water transportation, he said the government should mull over setting up whole markets in Sadarghat, Waiseghat, Gabtali and Turag by protecting the rivers flowing round the Dhaka city.
He demanded that the government should dredge existing rivers and canals that will speed up and expand transportation of goods through waterways. The price of consumer goods will come down, provided goods are carried through waterways.
He expressed the view that industries set up in the Dhaka and outside the capital should have effluent treatment plants (ETPs) to protect water bodies as well as environment.
Expressing concern on pollution of rivers, he said civic life is in great danger and demanded exemplary punishments to culprits polluting water bodies and grabbing land to develop housing plots.
Opposing recruitment of diplomats on political consideration, he said this is era of the economic diplomacy and suggested that career, seasoned and skilled diplomats should be posted abroad to serve the nation.
He suggested a diplomat should be groomed up with culture and language with the country concerned where he or she going to be posted.
For example, if a diplomat is posed to Paris, he or she should have minimum orientation about French language and culture.
Lamenting poor services provided by Bangladeshi diplomats abroad, Ershad said embassies concerned should extend necessary support to Bangladeshi workers.
Citing examples of ASESN diplomats and even western diplomats in Dhaka, he said the traditional mindset of the Bangladesh diplomats should be changed with a view to serving national interest of the Bangladesh as well as its workers.
Nearly 80 lakh Bangladeshis are working in different parts of the world and keeping local economy vibrant. Last year expatriate Bangladeshis sent over nine billion dollars to the country.
On keeping an option of whitening black money in the forth-coming budget, Ershad opined the government can consider this option in the light of the global recession. But he suggested that this money should be invested in productive sectors, such as industries, and not in non-productive sectors, like real estates business or in purchasing cars.
That will encourage corruption, and the corrupt people will take the advantage, the way they did in the past.
This democratically elected new government came into power with the people’s mandate. They promised that they would ensure good governance and continue the fight against corruption.
He praised the government plan to introduce daylight saving time by advancing the clock by one hour from June to save electricity during the evening hours.
He also said that the government might consider introducing Saturday-Sunday as weekends, as this could bring Bangladesh in line with the global business community as well as this would meet the growing demand for it, by the business community.
He said that countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, and others where the Muslims are the majority of the population keep Sunday as the weekend holiday.
Many countries of the world, including some Asian states, as well as some major corporations have now resorted to austerity measures to help overcome economic meltdown.
“We hope that the Bangladesh government would also seriously consider austerity measures towards spending the public money”, Ahmed said.
The government has to face bigger challenges in preparing the budget against the backdrop of global recession. The revenue collection may drop in the coming year. Export earnings as well as remittance flow are likely to witness slower growth.
On nagging traffic congestion in the city, he said the government can mull over handing over Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to the private sector to efficiently handle the traffic management in the city.
“Today play-grounds are being occupied by interest groups. Rivers are being grabbed, thus putting pressure on the environment. Building codes are not being followed properly, which leads to worsening traffic situation. There are numerous examples of clear violation of building codes. After gaining permission, parking lots are being rented out for other purposes than parking,” he said.

Coal-based production to help energy crisis

ET Report

The political parties should have a minimum consensus on national issues in a bid to speed up economic development of the country, said Syed Ershad Ahmed, President of American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh while talking to this correspondent recently.
He expressed the view that politicians should reduce their differences of opinion on energy issue and work together to develop this sector protecting national interest.
He opined that the government should have a short-, mid- and long-term strategy to overcome the nagging power crisis that is seriously hampering industrial production and civic life.
He suggested that a committee comprising professionals should be set up that will send recommendations to the parliament standing committee on energy and power.
The treasury and opposition benches would discuss the matter in detail in the national parliament and should recommend necessary steps to develop the energy sector.
The economic development of the country is highly linked with the expansion and development of power sector, he said.
On deep sea port, he said that Bangladesh economy would be immensely benefited by becoming a regional hub of shipping business in the region.
Laying stress on the parliamentary democracy in the country, Ershad opined that a vibrant parliament should be the focal point of discussing issues related to the national interest.
Criticizing the culture of boycotting Parliament by MPs on mere excuses, he clearly stated that the people of Bangladesh have elected them to discuss national issues relating to education, health, social security, job creation, national security, environment, etc. in the assembly.
Laying stress on water transportation, he said the government should mull over setting up whole markets in Sadarghat, Waiseghat, Gabtali and Turag by protecting the rivers flowing round the Dhaka city.
He demanded that the government should dredge existing rivers and canals that will speed up and expand transportation of goods through waterways. The price of consumer goods will come down, provided goods are carried through waterways.
He expressed the view that industries set up in the Dhaka and outside the capital should have effluent treatment plants (ETPs) to protect water bodies as well as environment.
Expressing concern on pollution of rivers, he said civic life is in great danger and demanded exemplary punishments to culprits polluting water bodies and grabbing land to develop housing plots.
Opposing recruitment of diplomats on political consideration, he said this is era of the economic diplomacy and suggested that career, seasoned and skilled diplomats should be posted abroad to serve the nation.
He suggested a diplomat should be groomed up with culture and language with the country concerned where he or she going to be posted.
For example, if a diplomat is posed to Paris, he or she should have minimum orientation about French language and culture.
Lamenting poor services provided by Bangladeshi diplomats abroad, Ershad said embassies concerned should extend necessary support to Bangladeshi workers.
Citing examples of ASESN diplomats and even western diplomats in Dhaka, he said the traditional mindset of the Bangladesh diplomats should be changed with a view to serving national interest of the Bangladesh as well as its workers.
Nearly 80 lakh Bangladeshis are working in different parts of the world and keeping local economy vibrant. Last year expatriate Bangladeshis sent over nine billion dollars to the country.
On keeping an option of whitening black money in the forth-coming budget, Ershad opined the government can consider this option in the light of the global recession. But he suggested that this money should be invested in productive sectors, such as industries, and not in non-productive sectors, like real estates business or in purchasing cars.
That will encourage corruption, and the corrupt people will take the advantage, the way they did in the past.
This democratically elected new government came into power with the people’s mandate. They promised that they would ensure good governance and continue the fight against corruption.
He praised the government plan to introduce daylight saving time by advancing the clock by one hour from June to save electricity during the evening hours.
He also said that the government might consider introducing Saturday-Sunday as weekends, as this could bring Bangladesh in line with the global business community as well as this would meet the growing demand for it, by the business community.
He said that countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, and others where the Muslims are the majority of the population keep Sunday as the weekend holiday.
Many countries of the world, including some Asian states, as well as some major corporations have now resorted to austerity measures to help overcome economic meltdown.
“We hope that the Bangladesh government would also seriously consider austerity measures towards spending the public money”, Ahmed said.
The government has to face bigger challenges in preparing the budget against the backdrop of global recession. The revenue collection may drop in the coming year. Export earnings as well as remittance flow are likely to witness slower growth.
On nagging traffic congestion in the city, he said the government can mull over handing over Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to the private sector to efficiently handle the traffic management in the city.
“Today play-grounds are being occupied by interest groups. Rivers are being grabbed, thus putting pressure on the environment. Building codes are not being followed properly, which leads to worsening traffic situation. There are numerous examples of clear violation of building codes. After gaining permission, parking lots are being rented out for other purposes than parking,” he said.

No gas to run new Siddhirganj power plant

Staff Correspondent,New Age

The government has asked the Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh to convert the under-construction gas-based 2X120MW Siddhirganj plant into a dual-fuel plant as Petrobangla said it would not be able to supply gas to run the power plant. With the government giving the latest directive last week, the EGCB, a subsidiary of the Power Development Board, has found itself in deep trouble as it would take months to convert the power plant into a dual-fuel plant and the cost of electricity generation will increase eight times if fuel like diesel is used, said officials. Petrobangla officials at a meeting at the Power Division on Tuesday said that with the existing daily gas extraction, Petrobangla would not be able to supply gas to the ‘peaking power plant’, which is being installed at a cost of Tk 1133 crore, and expected to go into test run in June. They said that they could supply gas to the Siddhirganj plant if gas supply to other power plants was curtailed. The ‘peaking plant’ is supposed to operate during peak hours. Petrobangla currently supplies around 780 million cubic feet of gas to power plants against a demand for around 900mmcfd. Another 210MW plant at Siddhirganj now faces gas shortage regularly. Although Petrobangla earlier committed that it would supply gas to the Siddhirganj plant, which would need around 30-40mmcfd of gas, installation of some unplanned rental power plants by the interim government has pushed the demand for gas up. The meeting, chaired by the prime minister’s adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, then asked EGCB to convert the under-construction power plant into a dual-fuel power plant. Officials of PDB and EGCB, however, told New Age that installation of the power plant would be further delayed if it was converted into a dual-fuel plant as the Indian contractor had failed to install the plant six months after deadline. The Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited in January 2007 won the $113 million turnkey contract from the EGCB to install the two-unit plant and it was supposed to go for commercial operation on November 7, 2008. ‘The company, however, failed to install the power plant in time. It is now supposed to complete installation of one of the units in June and go for test run. But the plant is unlikely to start operation in June because of gas shortage and the contractor will have no excuse for any further delay,’ said a PDB official. Officials of EGCB said that they had started talks with BHEL for converting the Siddhirganj plant into a dual-fuel plant, especially to keep an option to run the plant with diesel along with gas. ‘But we do not know how much time it will take to convert it into a dual-fuel plant. Besides, it may not be economically viable to run the power plant with diesel,’ said a high official. He said that they had estimated that an additional fund of around Tk 200 crore would be required to convert the plant and install the facilities to store diesel. ‘Apart from technological changes in the power plant, we will have to arrange facilities to bring about 1,000 tonnes of diesel to run the power plant for 16 hours a day and huge storage facilities will be needed for diesel,’ he said. The country’s overall demand for diesel is around 8,000 tonnes a day. ‘The main problem, however, will be the generation cost of electricity. The initial estimate was that the production cost of electricity would be Tk 2.01 for per kilowatt hour or one unit if gas was used as fuel. But we have estimated that the production cost will be around Tk 16-20 per unit if diesel is used. The government will have to give hundreds of crores of taka as subsidies to consumers if it wants to purchase electricity from us,’ he said. Apart from some small power plants, no large plants in the country is run by diesel which is priced at Tk 44 per litre while around 200MW of electricity is being generated by furnace oil, which is priced at Tk 26 per litre. The EGCB official said that they would request the government to supply gas to the power plant at least 3-4 hours a day. ‘We will place a position paper on the cost and benefit of converting it into a dual-fuel plant,’ he said. The government has recently taken a move that all the proposed power plants will have dual-fuel option as the country is facing a gas shortage of around 400mmcfd.

PDB eyes four power plants based on imported coal

Staff Correspondent,New Age

The Power Development Board will soon send a proposal to the government to take steps for installation of four power plants, each with 500MW capacity, which will be powered by imported coal, said officials.
‘As there is gas shortage and uncertainty prevails over extraction of coal from the remaining coal-fields in the country, we will request the government to take steps as soon as possible to install four power plants powered by imported coal,’ said a high official of the PDB.
The planned power plants could be set up in Chittagong, Khulna, Meghnaghat and Madaripur, near the proposed Padma Bridge, as these locations have water transport facilities for carrying imported coal, said PDB officials.
They said that the PDB had already raised the issue with the parliamentary standing committee on power and energy early this month and the committee gave a positive response.
Officials said that around $2.5 billion would be needed to install the power plants.
They said that the government needed to install coal-based power plants immediately if it wanted to fulfil its pledge of increasing electricity generation to 7,000MW by 2013 from the existing 3,800MW.
As per the government’s Power System Master Plan, the current demand for electricity in the country is supposed to be 6,066MW if the GDP is 5.2 per cent or 6,567MW if the GDP is 8 per cent.
The country’s demand for power will be 8,364MW in 2013 if the GDP is 5.2 per cent at that time and 10,473MW if the GDP increases to 8 per cent.
The Awami League’s election manifesto says that it will increase the GDP to 8 per cent and electricity generation to 7,000MW by 2013.
‘All the power projects in the pipeline and the proposed projects are gas-based. With the projected supply of gas, it will be hard to increase the power generation even to 5,000MW by 2013. So there is no alternative but to go for imported coal as uncertainty prevails over extraction of coal from the country’s coal-mines,’ said another official.
The PDB runs a 250MW coal-based power plant in Dinajpur with coal from the country’s lone coal-mine in Barapukuria that produces around 3,000 tonnes of coal per day.
The decision to extract coal from the country’s four other coal-fields has remained shelved because of the dispute over the mining method. Environmentally concerned citizens are totally against open-pit mining which is cheaper and extracts more coal, but is ecologically destructive.
Officials said that an attempt to import coal from Indonesia and Colombia was failed during the interim government as it was found the price of coal was too high, around $120-$160 per tonne including transportation and other costs.
The government recently completed primary negotiation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency for conducting a Master Plan Study on Coal Power Development.
Sources in the Power Division said that JICA identified 14 locations, including the four mentioned by PDB, where coal-based power plants could be set up.
They said that JICA might provide the fund for installation of two 500MW power plants if government can persuade it to do so.

Victims at Barapukuria hold protest rally

Mahfizul Islam Ripon, Parbortipur

Another land subsidence at Barapukuria Coalmine area in Dinajpur recently made the local people affected and many houses got cracks on walls.
The incident made the local people agitated and they held rallies to mark their protests on May 4 from 10 am to 2 pm against the negligence of the authorities to provide compensation and rehabilitation..
Hundreds of people gathered under the banner of ‘Protect Life and Property Committee’ led by Ibrahim Khalilullah. Administration created barricade with magistrates Muhammed Hossain Prince and Shafiur Rahman and Sr. SP Sanjit Kumar Roy. Activists urged the government to solve their problems. They gave ten days ultimatum to resolve their issues.
They criticized the delaying process of rehabilitation and blamed the administration for creating bureaucratic deadlock.
The cultivable land, homes, graveyard of Patrapara, Bashpukur, Kalupara were repositioned towards earth because of the big cracks over the hollow surface of the coal field and upper surface land area went down and created water land over there. People of that area organized

Deal on N-power plant after Russian minister reaches

ET Report

The government is likely to sign an agreement with Russia on installation of nuclear power plant at the end of current month when a Russian minister will reach Dhaka.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina provisionally approved a draft memorandum of understanding with Russia on installation of a nuclear power plant last week.
Bangladesh and Russia finalized the draft to sign an agreement after the three-day negotiations in April in Dhaka on installation of a nuclear power plant.
Ministry officials said the capacity of the power plant would be finalized in the final deal but the government decided to set up two plants, each with 1000MW capacity.
Russia did specify the financial terms which would be settled after the final agreement, sources said.
Russia was interested to provide loan, probably on easy terms, rather than grant. The Economic Relation Division will settle the terms and conditions.
Russia has supplied as many as 65 plants to Iran, India, China, Armenia, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Finland, Bulgaria and Germany, including 10 in last year. It is constructing 11 power plants.
In the country, the first initiative to install nuclear power plant at Rooppur in Pabna was taken in 1961.

CNG conversion less attractive with cheap diesel

ET Report

Diesel-run vehicle owners seemed to be losing interest in converting engines into CNG, which poses a major setback for some 138 conversion workshops in the country.
The Tk 2,000 crore industry is now running under-utilised with eventual threat of becoming sick. The petrol-run vehicle owners, however, still find converting engines to CNG cost effective.
‘This is due to the price cut of diesel in the domestic market, making CNG conversion unattractive mainly to owners of buses and trucks,’ said an industry insider.
Bangladesh CNG Filling Station and Conversion Workshop Association executive director MA Rois Siddique said that their workshops did not convert even a single diesel-run vehicle in April.
He said the rate of conversion to CNG started declining gradually since the latest diesel price adjustment at Tk 44 per litre on January 12 this year from a range of monthly conversion rate of between 900 and 1,000 diesel-run engines just before the price adjustment.
‘Vehicle owners calculated that the cost recovery period extended after the reduction of diesel price,’ Rois Siddique said. Conversion cost range between Tk 300,000 and Tk 500,000 per vehicle depending on the capacity of vehicles and the number of cylinders owners like to install.
The vehicle owners found it cost effective to covert the vehicle engines – be it diesel-run or petrol-run – into CNG when the prices of the fuel oil skyrocketed keeping pace with the international prices.
They also found the alternative fuel cost-effective even after doubling the CNG price to Tk 16.75 per cubic meter as the price of diesel rose to Tk 55 per litre.
But the vehicle owners no longer find it cost effective after two downward adjustments left the diesel price at Tk 44 per litre, Rois Siddique said.
He added that the CNG conversion would have been still attractive if the price of CNG adjusted downward in keeping with the diesel price.
‘The price of CNG should be one-fourth of diesel price to keep the conversion cost-effective.’
Recently, the energy ministry formed a committee to review the CNG price amid demand from the association to adjust the CNG price proportionately with the diesel price. The committee started working on it, said a senior official.
Officials in the Titas Gas and Rupantarito Prakritik Gas Company Limited, however, made it clear that there is no scope to reduce the price of CNG.

Auditors find Tk 87 crore graft in a power project

R Akter

The audit department has found misappropriation and irregularities in using fund amounting to Tk 87.52 crore in an electricity transmission line project between Rajshahi and Khulna division, sources to the Foreign Aided Project Audit Directorate (FAPAD) said.
The government’s audit department, in a letter to the Secretary of Power Division called for taking immediate action in this connection, informed sources said.
The Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) implemented the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and KFW aided “Khulna-Ishordi and Bogra- Barapukuria 230 KV Transmission Line” project between July 7, 2001 and June 30, 2008.
According to sources, the PGCB received Tk 177.77 crore from government, Asian Development Bank and KFW of Korea to implement the project. Of the amount, the audit department has found misappropriation at Tk 87.52 crore during its 2007-08 fiscal year audit investigation from February 12 to 19 this year. The audit team of FAPAD also found that the PGCB defaulted in paying Tk 47.85 crore in interest to government for the project.
The PGCG paid at Tk 15.15 crore to the government as interest instead of Tk 63 crore to run the project, a senior official of the FAPAD told ET.
He added that the government was also deprived of revenue in time as the implementation company did not follow the project performer (PP) provision to implement the project. The FAPAD in its report asked the project authority to pay arrear interest of Tk 47.85 crore to government immediately.
However, the project authority has shown in its financial statement that they received additional grant of Tk 37.40 crore from ADB and KFB for the implementation of the project. “But, the authority had received Tk 83.4 crore from ADB and Tk 56.58 crore from KFW whereas the authority had shown additional Tk 28.59 crore from ADB and Tk 73.73 crore from KFW,” sources said.
Besides, the investigators also found misappropriation Tk 3.27 crore in other activities during implementation of the project.

Two new units in KHEP in the offing

Sarwaruddin ,Ctg.

Two new units are expected to be added to the existing five units of Kaptai Hydro Electric Plant. According to reliable sources, unit no. 6 and 7 are expected to be installed in the said project aimed at generating more 120 to 150 Megawatts power. The existing capacity of five units of Kaptai Hydro plant is 230 MW generating since 1963 but the capacity reduced to some extents due to different technical faults and of a age old plant. Moreover in the current summer season the generation of the project brought down to only 80 to 100 MW due to unexpected fall of water level in the lake. In this current season only two units were in operative.
These two proposed units will be run with the excess rainy water in hill zone during rainy season. It is decided at the high level meeting of the lake management committee held. The meeting recommended target to generate 120 -150 MW power from the two proposed units. The meeting also hoped that following the installation of two new units, the power crisis in the country may be resolved to some extent and the use of lake water during rainy season will be properly utilized in generating power rather delivery through slipway. The experts in the meeting opined that the erection of two more units with the present existing infrastructure of the KHEP, about 150 MW power may be generated from the same water level during rainy season. Mentionable that the generation cost of one unit KW power in gas or fuel turbine plants comes Tk. 20 whereas water turbine plant it need only 35 to 40 paisa per unit. So it will be more beneficial for the country to generate maximum power from the KHEP
Deputy Commissioners of Rangamati, Khagrachari, Bandarban and all UNOs of the lake adjoining upazilas , high officials of PDB, superintending and executive engineers of KHEP were present in the meeting with Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong in the Chair

WB supports 100 MW additional power supply to national grid

ET Report

World Bank supported Investment Promotion and Financing Facility (IPFF) Project has completed financing four small power plants (SPPs), adding a total of 77MW power to the national grid. IPFF helps to build the capacity of the local financial sector for longer term financing to the much needed private-public partnership ventures in infrastructure. The financial Institutions can apply for the IPFF fund through Bangladesh Bank for financing infrastructure projects. The three 22MW plants in Tangail, Narshingdi, and Feni are operating at their full capacities. The 11 MW plant in Mohipal, Feni will commence operation early this month. Another 22MW SPP located at Barabkunda, Chittagong will also start power generation by April 2009.The IPFF project has disbursed $27.21 million out of the total World Bank approved amount of $47.50 million. A World Bank team recently reviewed IPFF project implementation progress. The team expressed satisfaction over significant progress made in implementation of the project. Lending activities under on-lending component of the project is making progress as planned during the Mid Term Review during October 2008. Malancha Holdings Ltd. applied for US $29.08 million for supplying power to DEPZ and CEPZ. The application for these two power plants is under process. Together, demand for IPFF fund has now exceeded by $7.78 from the original allocation of $47.5 million. The public private partnership venture took off with co-financing from World Bank and NCC Bank Limited, Dhaka Bank Limited, Dutch Bangla Bank Limited, IIDFC, and Eastern Bank Limited ? all being participating financial institutions (PFIs) of IPFF Project for financing the Government endorsed power plants of Doreen Power Generation and Systems Limited, Doreen Power House and Technology Limited, and Regent Power Limited. IPFF project also provides Technical Assistance which needs to speed up. The World Bank team suggested Board of Investment (BOI), the secretariat for Private Investment Committee of (PICOM) of the to take measures and BB and IIFC to coordinate with the Planning Commission for integrating PPP projects in the Annual Development Program framework. In consultation with the stakeholders, the project team is now actively working for diversifying investment into other infrastructure sector schemes such as container terminal, land port, energy saving equipment, waste disposal facilities, and environmental development. With demand arising from a potential pipeline, additional financing for IPFF will be made as per request to be made by the Government.