Home ›› 16 Oct 2022 ›› Front
A Chinese company will set up a power plant that will produce electricity from garbage, implementing the first waste-to-power project in Bangladesh.
The China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) will establish the power plant at Aminbazar in Savar investing Tk 4,295 crore.
The Chinese investment is the highest investment proposal registered with Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) this year.
To implement the project, CMEC formed a new company, named WTE Power Plant North Dhaka Private Limited which has been registered with BIDA in March this year.
Through the investment, the private company will produce electricity in a power plant through the treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste. Only 22 people will be employed in the high-tech power plant, according to BIDA sources.
The Chinese company will establish, operate and maintain the plant and operation costs will be maintained by selling the produced electricity to the Power Division.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) will allocate 30 acres of land at Aminbazar for the project and also supply the necessary waste.
DNCC Chief Executive Officer (Additional Secretary) Md Selim Reza said, “We have already acquired land for the project. We are now developing the land. It will be handed over to the Chinese company once ready for use.”
Local Government Division, Power Division, DNCC and CMEC signed an agreement on December 1, 2021, for the energy project. Earlier on November 12, 2020, the project was approved in a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase.
As per the agreement, DNCC will have to supply 3,000 tonnes of waste on daily basis for the plant. In case of failure, the DNCC will have to pay Tk 1000 as compensation for each tonne of missing waste to the Chinese company.
Asked, if the DNCC can supply the required waste every day, Selim Reza said that at present, they collect 2,500-2,800 tonnes of garbage per day on average.
“New 18 wards have been added to the city corporation. We assume, more than 3,500 tonnes of garbage will be collected every day. Supplying the required garbage will not be a problem,” he explained.
He said that they would segregate the waste at the dumping yard and send the required portion to the power plant. “We have made a plan already about that.”
CMEC will establish the 42.5 MW power plant spending Tk 15,325 crore and sell per kilowatt electricity at $0.22 according to the agreement. The company will have to implement the project within 20 months of contract signing and it will be established for a 25-year tenure.
The Chinese company will implement the project under the supervision of the Bangladesh Power Development Board of Power Division.
The government will implement more waste-to-energy projects at the municipality, district and city corporation levels if this project is implemented successfully.
Sources concerned said normally, each tonne of garbage can produce 550 KW of electricity. The government expects to produce 1000 MW of electricity, or 35,000 metric tonnes of organic fertiliser, utilising over 20,000 metric tonnes of waste that is produced daily in the country.
Previously, the government failed to implement a similar waste-to-energy project in Keraniganj due to numerous technological and financial glitches.
Currently, almost all developed countries generate power from garbage while Bangladesh has initiated the project for the first time. The Power Division had been planning to produce electricity from waste for a long time to ensure proper waste management in the city, now which will be executed.
It is a new system where power will be generated by burning waste. The heat produced from the burnt waste will be utilised for generating steam by boiling water in a controlled manner. The steam will move the turbine to produce electricity.
Bangladesh Power Development Board member (Company affairs) Nazmul Hasan told the Business Post, “The land acquiring and development process for the project is underway. The work of the project will start within a short time.”
