Bangladesh launches its largest thermal power plant

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh on Monday formally inaugurated its largest thermal power plant with an ambitious and challenging target of delivering the power supply to every household nationwide.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the inaugural session of the mega project in the southern coastal district of Patuakhali, 153 kilometers (95 miles) away from the capital Dhaka.

She said the $2.48 billion project on 1,000 acres of land is a big achievement and was the dream of Bangladesh’s founding leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Electricity, she said, will be carried to every corner of the country for rural development.

Bangladesh has implemented the 1,320 MW ultra-supercritical coal-fired power plant in a joint venture with one of its biggest development partners, China.

With this milestone project, Bangladesh has become the 13th country in the world and seventh in South Asia in using the environment-friendly, ultra-supercritical technology in producing power.

Recalling her journey as state head in 1996 after 21 years since the assassination of Rahman with most of his family members in 1975, Hasina said that she wants to improve the underprivileged rural areas for the overall development of the country and power supply is a must for this.

“Starting with a total countrywide power supply of 1,500 MW, we promoted it to 4,300 MW in just five years. Unfortunately, the next government failed to continue it; rather the total power supply in the national grid went down to 3,200 MW in 2008, when we were elected again,” Hasina added.

According to government data, the power generation capacity of the South Asian delta nation of 170 million people has crossed the record 25,000 MW mark in February 2022.