CCC power plants may get govt nod

Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury took the initiative back in 2000 with a view to bringing remedy to the acute power crisis in the port city. He also invited investors from home and abroad in this regard.

He also included the issue in his 40-point election manifesto and gave it one of the top priorities after 'city government.'

After being elected mayor for the third consecutive terms, Mohiuddin in his post-election speeches reiterated his promise to reduce the load-shedding in the port city by building smaller (10 to 15 megawatt) power plants.

I don't understand why we should face load-shedding at this age of a modern world!” he wondered while talking to The Daily Star.

I wanted to set up at least 15 plants each with capacity of 10 megawatt to free Chittagong from power shortage, Mohiuddin said.

"The per unit tariff from my power plants will be cheaper and most affordable to the city dwellers," he said adding that "I will charge only Tk 3.50 for per unit, the service will be round-the-clock basis and there will be no peak hour option."

The city mayor said he will approach the government again to approve his projects. "If the government agrees, I'm confident of starting my projects in six months."

Earlier, bureaucratic tangles reportedly stood in the way of this initiative that also aimed at complementing the inadequacies of Power Development Board (PDB) to some extent and help contribute to uninterrupted supply to the industrial units of the city.

"The initiative was taken in 2000 and the CCC made some progress in this regard. The then energy secretary of the government had also consented to the project," said a CCC executive engineer.

About 13 to 14 companies from home and abroad have shown interest in setting up of power plants, he said.

He said, "The city had long been reeling under 60 to 80 MW power shortage per day against the daily demand and one of our main objectives was to fill this deficit and make Chittagong a power-outage-free city."

"We will provide the companies with all infrastructural facilities, including land. But, it is up to them to collect and obtain necessary permission from concerned departments such as Bakrhabad Gas System Ltd (BGSL), Department of Environment and NBR," he said.

The city corporation has so far signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 13 aspirant companies to set up power plants each having 10 MW capacity, sources said. The plants will cost between Tk30 and Tk40 lakh each.

The companies were Hosaf Meter Agency, Cultimax Energy, Power Generation & Equipment Co, M/S Asian Marketing Corporation, AIE Engineering, Noorpur Power Limited, Z & Z Distribution Limited, Dakib Corporation, M/S Del Forest and Global Infrastructural Corpor-ation. The CCC executive engineer could not give out the names of the other firms.

As per MoU, the proposed power plants are to be built on Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis, sources said.