The prime minister is set to inaugurate the coal-power plant

Staff Reporter : Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1,320 megawatts beside Patuakhali’s Payra River in the southern district on Monday.

The prime minister, who had been conducting office from her official residence for the last two years, will inaugurate the plant in-person.

Bangladesh-China Power Company Limited (BCPCL) built the power plant on 982.77 acres of land at Dhankhali union Parishad of Kolapara upazila, Patuakhali.

The total cost of the project is estimated at around Tk 20,000 crore or $2.46 billion. The Export-Import Bank of China lent $1.96 billion of the cost while the rest was funded by Bangladesh.

According to the latest plan, a total of two power plants will be built in Payra and each will have 1,320 megawatts power capacity which will be divided by two units of 660 megawatts.

The two-unit plant, each having 660 megawatts capacity, is already connected to the national grid in Gopalganj which is now producing 320-640MW of electricity by rotation.

After installing a transmission line through the Padma River, the plant will be operated at full steam soon. After that, Dhaka and its nearby area can use the power produced by Payra.

However, officials said, about 80-85% of the plant's electricity will be supplied to the southern part of the country especially Barisal and Khulna region in order to set up a new industrial hub in these areas, that are mostly an agricultural and residential region

When the power plant will run at full scale around 13,000 tonnes will be needed to power it and it will generate 180 tonnes of fly and bottom ash as byproducts.

Officials said the plant has a 76.30 acre dumping zone where 25 years’ worth of byproducts can be kept.

At the moment, the plant is importing coal from Indonesia. It has its own jetty whose conveyor belts can unload 3,200 tonnes of coal every hour from four vessels at the same time.