Urgent installation of two power plants in progress

[GoldenAsif]

Urgent installation of two power plants in progress
S M Jahangir
5/4/2007

The government has speeded up process of installing two power plants on an urgent basis to add a total of 360-megawatt (mw) electricity to the national grid in order to reduce the prevailing power shortfall.
The proposed two units are: Sylhet 150mw combined cycle power plant and Khulna 210mw thermal power unit, official sources said.
Under the proposal, the Sylhet 150mw combined cycle power project will be implemented entirely with the government of Bangladesh (GoB) fund while the Khulna 210mw plant will be set up under the suppliers' credit.
A senior Power Division official informed the FE that tenders for installation of the two power plants would be invited within the next couple of days.
According to official sources, a meeting was held Thursday at the Power Division to review the bidding process.
"We have asked the authorities concerned to invite tenders shortly for the projects to facilitate their early implementation. Hopefully, the bids for the said power projects are to be floated on May 6," said an official.
He further said after getting the offers for the projects, their evaluation process will be completed within a shortest possible time for the sake of their early approval from the government's purchase committee.
About the proposed projects, the official said the Adviser in-charge of the Finance and Planning Ministry A B Mirza Azizul Islam has given his consent to the implementation of the Sylhet 150mw combined cycle power unit through internal resources.
"The finance adviser has assured the Power Division of allocating fund in phases for the proposed Sylhet power unit in the national budgets," said the official.
Besides, the government has decided to implement the proposed Khulna 210mw power unit under suppliers' credit, taking the country's prevailing power shortage into consideration, the official noted.
Apart from the aforesaid two projects, the government is also considering setting up some more power units with the funding support from major donor agencies' namely the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), officials said.
The Power Adviser Tapan Chowdhury recently told the newsmen that the interim government would announce a plan by this month for adding some 3000mw of electricity to the national grid through installation of some new power units and resumption of some closed units.
Meanwhile, the power crisis has worsened further across the country in the recent days, causing immense sufferings to its users and badly affecting industrial and other commercial activities.
The overall electricity shortfall is now varying between 1200mw and 1500mw per day, resulting in its frequent loadshedding in many places of Dhaka city, sources said.
They, however, observed that even after the introduction of a load management, under which all shopping centres and market places have been kept shut after 7:00 pm, no improvement in the power supply is visible.

http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/i...=60139&spcl=no

[GoldenAsif]

To BC forum members resident in Bangladesh, how is the situation in BD in terms of power shortages in your area?

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by GoldenAsif
To BC forum members resident in Bangladesh, how is the situation in BD in terms of power shortages in your area?

I'm not in BD, but I hear it's getting better. Specially the after-7 law has changed a few things.

[Rabz]

GoldenAsif, i would suggest you to open a thread "GoldenAsif and BD News" and post all your news articles relating BD over there.

That way, you dont have to open a new thread every day and we will all be able to follow all your posts ( or threads) under one roof.

[shaad]

What are the fuel sources for the two power plants? Is it natural gas for the Sylhet combined cyle power plant? What about for the Khulna plant?

[Orpheus]

Originally Posted by Sydney
GoldenAsif, i would suggest you to open a thread "GoldenAsif and BD News" and post all your news articles relating BD over there.

That way, you dont have to open a new thread every day and we will all be able to follow all your posts ( or threads) under one roof.

agree, asif er pet e definitely crimi hoiche.... he wants to bring the "positive" side of bangladesh out in a bangladeshi forum with silly regular news.... how lame!

I think he needs to think on macro level I mean bangladesh winning 100 mil in whatever is news to him... :p

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by Sydney
GoldenAsif, i would suggest you to open a thread "GoldenAsif and BD News" and post all your news articles relating BD over there.

That way, you dont have to open a new thread every day and we will all be able to follow all your posts ( or threads) under one roof.

C'mon.. it's a bit harsh on him.

He is posting some good news and I don't see any problem with that. Some of the news with which he opened threads were pretty encouraging for Bangladesh.

As long as he uses it sensibly, we should not discourage him.

Well, it's my personal opinion.

[Fazal]

I have found a bunch great (positive) news that I would also like to share with the folks here. Should I use "GoldenAsif and BD News" thread as Sydney suggested, or should I follow Miraz's advice and open a new thread for each item? Please advice!!!

Here is the partial list of todays positive news...

- BDR seizes Indian lobster fry
- Stocks play upbeat
- Services restored at DMCH
- Govt plans to float longer-term bonds
- Tapan Chowdhury stresses alternative energy
- Madrasa students to get university certificate
- Yoga gives immune boost to breast cancer survivors
- Sabrina, Sifat bag gold in national shooting

[Rabz]

Fazal at it again...
ha ha ha..
couldnt agree with ya more...

Miraz bhai, plz tell me how is it harsh on him??
i didnt use any slurs, or didnt even attack him personally.
i just gave him a small suggestion regarding what would be better for most of us.

Surely those news are great news for us and BD as a whole, but im getting tired of logging on BanglaCricket every day, clicking on Forget cricket and seeing one more post by our GA and some BD news...

All those news could easily be compiled in one place.
Im not discouraging him to do so,
its just not flooding the forum with it.
thats all.

[Tigers_eye]

Late but good move. When is the project completion date?

[Special 1]

Originally Posted by shaad
What are the fuel sources for the two power plants? Is it natural gas for the Sylhet combined cyle power plant? What about for the Khulna plant?

If it is IGCC it could be any source of energy, if it is NGCC then it has to be natural gas. usually the fixed cost in establishing a combined cycle plant is higher and the time taken to build it is longer. Given the current circumstances, i am a little confused. However, it is good for the environment.

[Moon]

Soon I will also be a National Grid employee after the merger is completed with Keyspan Energy.
I didn't hear about this project.
Thank You for posting it.

[GoldenAsif]

Moon bhai: You are welcome.

Special1 Bhai: Thanks for sharing your knowledge (expertise) with us.

I would like both of you to comment on the thread about the mine Asia energy wish to build, the one which might bring in $21 billion of revenue. Insha'Allah on that thread those who wish to can have an educated and constructive discussion and those who do not wish to should not read it or post. Energy is one of the key areas which the CTG is working on and it is very high on the agenda.

[Moon]

Originally Posted by shaad
What are the fuel sources for the two power plants? Is it natural gas for the Sylhet combined cyle power plant? What about for the Khulna plant?

I would imagine it will be Natural gas.

Even though i don't know much about Bangladesh's Power plant.

GoldenAsif bhai: it is MOON apu not bhai...

I hear there is hardly any load shedding these days...and it's only during the day that half an hour or so where it would go out.

[Zobair]

Combined Cycle plants are always natural gas-fired. The full name being Combined Cycle Gas Turbine or CCGT.

[Special 1]

Originally Posted by Zobair
Combined Cycle plants are always natural gas-fired. The full name being Combined Cycle Gas Turbine or CCGT.

That is not true.
IGCC: Integrated gasification combined cycle does not need natural gas as a fuel.
it can use any fuel source. It significantly reduces NOx and SOx, which is amazing from an environmental perspective. The fact that these plants can use any fuel is important. The US has huge deposits of coal and no new power plants in the US can really be coal fire powered. The IGCC allows them to use coal without polluting. This adds to the energysecurity of the US and all thepolitics that goes along with it.

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by Special 1
That is not true.
IGCC: Integrated gasification combined cycle does not need natural gas as a fuel.
it can use any fuel source. It significantly reduces NOx and SOx, which is amazing from an environmental perspective. The fact that these plants can use any fuel is important. The US has huge deposits of coal and no new power plants in the US can really be coal fire powered. The IGCC allows them to use coal without polluting. This adds to the energysecurity of the US and all thepolitics that goes along with it.

IGCC uses multiple thermodynamic cycles to increase Carnot efficiency.OK, I am throwing techie terms from my EEE days at BUET. Coal is a amjor energy source for IGCC.

[Aritro]

I really don't understand this obsession people on forums have with collecting articles in one thread. IMO seperate threads focuses attention on each individual issue and encourages debate about them.

As opposed to getting lost on page 892 of a 82890248923423 page general thread.

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Sydney
GoldenAsif, i would suggest you to open a thread "GoldenAsif and BD News" and post all your news articles relating BD over there.

That way, you dont have to open a new thread every day and we will all be able to follow all your posts ( or threads) under one roof.

Sydney bhai, please don't be so harsh. This is probably better than opening completely useless threads like we can see all the time.

I personally contribute very little in FC...so don't know why everyone's so upset with GoldenAsif bhai. I don't wanna get into it either. But please, lets be a little patient here

[GoldenAsif]

Originally Posted by Aritro
I really don't understand this obsession people on forums have with collecting articles in one thread. IMO seperate threads focuses attention on each individual issue and encourages debate about them.

As opposed to getting lost on page 892 of a 82890248923423 page general thread.

Aritro bhai. Exactly.

1. There shouldn't be a thread on the forum just related to one specific member as that is silly and the forum belongs to the owner/founder, admin and all the members and not that member.

2. Different issues would get muddled up. If the news about Bangladesh Biman being made a public limited company, about Bangladesh on its way to starting a multi-billion dollar ship manufacturing industry, about our economic growth, telecoms industry were all in one big thread then one poster would be speaking about the new Boeing aircraft and another would be talking about how he prefers Sony phones to Nokia. In other words it would be a gobbledy goob, mish-mash, hotch potch of different things. If however they are kept seperate our attention can be focused on one thing.

- Those who know about the telecoms industry can contribute their expertise on a thread about telecoms and not have to deal with other issues.

- Those who know about the aircraft and airlines industry can contribute to the thread about Biman.

However perhaps the forum admin should think about starting up either a sticky thread on Bangladesh economy or a sub-forum. I have no problem if they decide that it is not suitable and will respect whatever decision they make.

Lastly Aritro bhai, there are certain posters here (they know who they are) who do not want to speak about the topic but just use any opportunity to personally insult me. It is highly likely that now they will restart their personal insults since I have responded to them, whereas before I didn't respond to their posts and so they failed in their goal of provoking me.

Can moderators insure that this thread does not become about "GoldenAsif" or about this and that, but it stays about our energy needs. Moderators please delete this post of mine and others which are not related to our energy needs (Orpheus, Fazal, Sydney) if you feel this is appropriate.

[Sumon77]

Thanks.. GoldenAsif for the news. I think its good to have them in seperate threads than single one, this way we can hav idea that something new has come up rather than someones comment on the already existing matter. Keep going GA, its easier for us to keep track on the development activities back there specially when we are abroad.

[Sumon77]

i wonder, since most of the new power plants being installed, are natural gas based, how about the comfimation for the source (gas) for long term. isnt it true that the current source of gases will finish sometime in the next decade? what is the surety that we will find new sources soon? and unfortunately if not, what will happen? do we hav to import gas from Myanmar or somewhere else then?

[Special 1]

WE will have to use switchgrass ethanol.
We have to start moving towards alternative energy.

[GoldenAsif]

Originally Posted by Sumon77
Thanks.. GoldenAsif for the news. I think its good to have them in seperate threads than single one, this way we can hav idea that something new has come up rather than someones comment on the already existing matter. Keep going GA, its easier for us to keep track on the development activities back there specially when we are abroad.

Thanks bro...and thanks to all the mature and civilized people on here who are appreciative of my threads (not that it is something major, anyone can do the same) and all those who post constructively.

[GoldenAsif]

The experts’ committee on power sector formed by the caretaker government cleared five controversial power deals earlier this week not because they found these to be “clean” but because in the persisting power crisis, the country cannot afford to sit on new power projects.
The committee headed by former vice-chancellor of Buet Prof Abdul Matin Patwari found various irregularities in the tender process for each of the projects. But these irregularities were all legitimised through approval by cabinet bodies of the past government.

While clearing these projects, the experts’ committee emphasised strict monitoring of implementation of these so that the country does not end up having dysfunctional power plants like Tongi 80 megawatt unit.

The five projects are 450 MW Meghnaghat phase-two power plant, 150 MW Chandpur plant, 20 MW Bogra rental power plant, maintenance work of Ghorasal unit-1 and 2 and Karnaphuli hydropower unit-3. Of these, there were widespread allegations against Meghnaghat and Chandpur deals.

The experts’ committee members felt that if they recommended cancellation, these power projects would fall at least one year behind the schedule.

“We have found some irregularities in them but their bids were substantially responsive,” says Prof Abdul Matin Patwari.

“We have no option but to go ahead with these projects because the country has been pushed into such a grim power situation that we cannot sit on power projects.”

Prof Patwari went on, “We have given observations about each of the power deals and we have strongly recommended that in future there should be two separate tender committees — one will prepare tender papers and the other will evaluate these. This should end scopes for manipulating bids.”

Single tender bodies had given rise to many controversies, he pointed out.

The committee chief said they have recommended that in future, the government would fix a time limit for project implementers to complete those. This area should not remain open for delays as delays give rise to corruption.

The committee also felt that the government should have a clear policy about how to deal with different types of projects. “We see that some deals are for three years and some are for 15 years. There should be a clear cut policy to avoid confusion,” Prof Patwari said.

With a daily load shedding hovering around 2,000 megawatt, the cost of not having power has now become all time high. And this is due to lack of proper leadership of the past alliance government, and the corrupt nexus of dishonest officials and political beneficiaries who made sure that either they get the power deals or none gets those.

The alliance government awarded Meghnaghat project deal to BON Consortium while Chinese Harbin Power Engineering got the contract for Chandpur 150 MW plant. The 20 MW Bogra project deal was awarded to local firm GBB Ltd. The restricted tender bid for rehabilitation of Karnaphuli hydropower project unit 3 will be held soon.

The Meghnaghat deal went to BON, which is a joint venture of Obaedul Karim, the Oriental Bank scamster, and the UAE’s Belhasa group. But none of them is the lead bidder. BON qualified to participate in this tender, which sought an experienced power company, by showing Japanese company Nisso Eiwi as the lead bidder (thus acquiring the name BON Consortium). Then after qualifying, Nisso disappeared from the bid and Obaedul Karim brought in German company Steag as the lead sponsor. But Steag is nowhere in the scene in reality.

“Regarding this, we have observed that when the tender was floated, the Private Sector Guideline (that bars change of lead sponsor) was yet to be introduced. Again, the then economic affairs committee of the cabinet okayed change of the lead sponsor. That way transparency was ensured,” noted Prof Patwari.

“We have recommended that BON consortium will have to implement the project with a levelised price tariff of 02.78 cents…,” he added.

In case of Harbin’s Chandpur deal, where Power Development Board grossly violated its own tender rules to favour Harbin over other bidders and triggered a serious conflict with the government’s implementation and monitoring department, the experts’ committee members at a meeting had observed that Harbin’s performance and dealings were dubious. They also observed that in other tenders, Harbin resorted to trickery to show low prices during the tender and then increase that or delivered substandard equipment.

The committee concluded that Harbin’s implementation of Chandpur plant would be strictly monitored, and cost of the project will not be increased.

http://www.bangladeshnews.com.bd/200...-of-urgency-2/