A large ship from Indonesia carrying over 65,000 tonnes of coal for the Matarbari power plant arrived at the Matarbari deep sea port at Maheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday.
The port authority said so far 4 lakh tonnes of coal has been brought in 6 ships in the last two months.
The Cyprus flag-carrying vessel, MV LMZ ATLAS, originated from Indonesia's Tarahan Port and docked at the Matarbari Deep Sea Port.
Ataul Hakim Siddique, the project manager of the Matarbari seaport, said, "The ship transported 65,020 tonnes of coal and has a draft of 12.5 meters with a length of 229 meters."
The first coal-carrying ship arrived at the Matarbari jetty on April 25, followed by four more ships in May and one in June.
The Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) is overseeing the implementation of the 1,200 MW Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal-Fired Power Project, a joint initiative between the governments of Bangladesh and Japan.
On Tuesday, CPGCBL Executive Director Abul Kalam Azad informed reporters that each ship had transported approximately 65,000 tonnes of coal, which is currently being stored.
"The work on the power plant is nearly complete, and experimental power generation is underway. The commissioning process will commence then," he added
The Matarbari Power Plant and Port construction have made significant progress, with 94 per cent completion achieved through the financial and technical support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The overall progress of the associated projects stands at 73 per cent. The power plant is scheduled to be commissioned in January 2024, but CPGCBL has announced its intention to commence commercial generation by December of this year based on the current pace of work.
The estimated cost of the Matarbari Coal Power Plant is Tk 51,854.88 crore, with JICA's debt accounting for Tk 43,921 crore. The remaining Tk 7,934 crore is self-financed by the government of Bangladesh and CPGCBL.
A total of 1,608 acres of land has been acquired for the construction of the thermal power plant, which will utilise ultra-supercritical technology.
This project encompasses not only the power plant but also the construction of coal load-unload jetties, townships, transmission lines, and link roads. Consequently, it is more expensive compared to other power plants of similar capacity, as claimed by the Power Division.
