Bangladesh News

Finalisation of the seven gas-fired small power projects has once again become uncertain due to low pressure of gas supplied to the project sites as well as other issues.
The government had earlier aimed at completing all the relevant agreements by mid-January to add 260 megawatt power by June-July. But now it seems that commissioning of these plants may be delayed till early next year due to low gas pressure.

Sources said Petrobangla may not be able to increase gas pressure to suit the power plants within one year. And this has become a major problem for six out of the seven sites.

These matters came up at a meeting between the power ministry and the power project contractors on Sunday with the power secretary in the chair.

The meeting was informed that all the projects except the one in Bogra have one or more issues that need to be resolved first.

The Bogra 20 MW rental power plant to be set up by GBB Ltd has been given one acre of land and a land lease agreement (LLA) has been signed. The GBB is now awaiting signing of a Gas Sales Agreement (GSA). The GBB claims that it would be able to go for partial generation of power in April.

Ornate Services Ltd, which is setting up the Fenchuganj 50 MW plant, has switched over to a land-based power plant, instead of a barge-mount one. It is now negotiating an LLA with the PDB but Ornate representative at the Sunday meeting said signing of the GSA would not be possible till the gas problem is resolved. Otherwise, Ornate said, it can set up the plant by September.

Dealing with the 80 MW Shahjibazar plant, the United Group has initialled a power rental contract with the PDB. But it has several unresolved issues that need to be addressed before finalising this contract. The group wants to incorporate two additional clauses on dispute resolution in the contract.

The United Group has not yet informed the power ministry the shipment date of its plant equipment. Meanwhile low gas pressure at Shahjibazar has also made the project uncertain for now.

The power rental agreement for Kumargaon 20 MW plant was initialled and finalised last week.

Dealing with the 20MW Barabkunda plant, Hosaf has already asked the authorities to extend project implementation time to 150 days from its original 90 days. Hosaf representative at the meeting also said it was unable to get finance under the contract which is valid for only three years, and “may be” extended further. Hosaf has aksed the authorities to replace “may be” with “shall be” in the contract.

Gas pressure at Barabkunda is also much lower than required, and Petrobangla has said it will take about a year to ensure appropriate pressure.

Hosaf’s Feni 20 MW project is also suffering from uncertainty due to low gas pressure among other glitches.

Hosaf’s third deal is Noapara 50 MW barge-mount plant. Though Hosaf was given the notification of award on November 1, it now wants to shift the project to Baghabari, and then Shikalbaha.

But Hosaf now wants to set up a land-based plant, instead of a barge-mount one, and is asking the government to provide one acre of land. The bid bond for this project is about to expire now.