Govt to pay Tk 4,408cr in next 5 yrs
The Cabinet Purchase Committee on Sunday approved proposals of the Power Division to extend contracts with two more rental power plants to purchase electricity for next five (5) years.
These two power projects are Max Power Ltd’s 78.5 MW plant at Ghorasal in Narsingdi and DPA Power Generation’s 50 MW plant at Pagla in Narayanganj.
After the cabinet body’s nod, the government will need to pay a total of Tk 4,408 crore to the two private power companies in next five years of which the DPA Power will get Tk 3,502 crore while the Max Power will get Tk 906 crore for sale of electricity at 80 percent plant factor.
Under the approved proposal, the DPA Power’s tariff was raised to Tk 19.99 per unit from the existing Tk 13.96 per unit while Max Power’s tariff was lowered to Tk 3.29 per unit, a 39.15 percent cut over the existing tariff.
At present, the state-owned PDB purchase each unit of electricity from the Max Power’s gas-fired 78.5 MW plant at Tk 5.41 per unit while at Tk 13.96 per unit from the Bangladesh Army-operated DPA’s diesel-fired 50 MW plant.
Earlier, the government extended the agreement of a number of rental and quick rental power plants last year, which drew strong criticism from the power sector experts who blamed the rental plants as the main reason for rising power tariff.
Official sources said the state-owned Power Development Board’s (PDB) three-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Max Power will expire on May 26 this year while the DPA’s three-year agreement already expired in November last year.
Source: UNBConnect
