The Islami Bank's arbitrariness is causing the Banshkhali 1320-MW coal-based power plant to close just as the government is in a grave condition to deal with the lack of electricity generation. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) apprehends that load shedding might get out of control if the new large power plant is shut down.
The dire situation has been created following the sweet will of Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC. The Islami Bank has withheld the money of eight LCs (line of credit) opened with 100% margin. For this reason, three coal-laden ships have arrived at the barge; however, the coal is no longer being unloaded. On the other hand, the coal reserves of the power plant are running out fast. The 1,320-MW power plant requires 12,000 metric tonnes of coal daily for full production whereas coal reserves are only 60,000 metric tonnes. In such a case, there is only five days of coal reserves. The power plant will be shut down next week if the coal cannot be unloaded from the barge.
The entire country is facing severe load-shedding for a few days. Barapukuria coal-based power plant has been shut down completely due to technical glitch. Besides, a unit of the Rampal power plant also went into out of production for the same reason. Consequently, the load shedding has turned into dire situation. In addition, the gas crisis has added to the complexity of the issue. There is no possibility of increasing gas supply in a few months. Under the circumstances, Power Division of Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources is not able to get rid of the unbearable load shedding even if it wants to do so.
Unpleasant incidents are being reported in various areas, including Noakhali, in protest against load shedding. Meanwhile, reports of vandalism were found in Noakhali. The power sector stakeholders sense that it will be very difficult to handle the load shedding if another 1320-megawatt power plant is shut down at this crisis time.
Md Rezaul Karim, chairman of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, has acknowledged the apprehension. He said, “If the production of the plant is stopped due to any reason, the load shedding will increase further. We advised them to open LC with another bank.”
Tan Jheling, Managing Director of Banskhali 1320-MW coal-based power plant located in Gandamara area of Banskhali (Chittagong) near the Bay of Bengal, said that eight LCs were opened through Islami Bank with 100% margin. Out of them, coal of five LCs has been unloaded while 6, 11 and 22 August were set to release money for the rest three LCs. However, the money was also not released so far.
Owing to the prior coal bill not being received, the exporters have stopped unloading coal of 1,68,000 tonnes from three ships that reached Chittagong port's barge. They refused to unload coal until the previous bill was provided to them. Indonesian supplier is making repeated requests to Islamic Bank through beneficiary bank. Finding no response from the Islami Bank, the supplier has threatened to stop business with Bangladesh.
The official of Banskhali power plant said, “The power plant will have to be shut down if the coal is not unloaded soon. We hope before then, perhaps, the problems will be fixed. On the one hand, there is apprehension that the non-release of LC may cause generating power to stop. However, staying the ship in the harbour for even a single day will result in an additional $60,000 charge. Meanwhile, over one million dollar has been fined for this reason.
In response to a question, the official said that there is no loan in the name of SS Power-1 in any branch of Islami Bank and even if any bank in Bangladesh. Foreign banks own all of the loans. There is a current account with Gulshan Circle-1 branch of Islami Bank. Apart from LC, Tk165 crore are deposited with the branch. Since the money is not debited from that account, it has become difficult to manage the daily activities, including paying the salaries of the Chinese engineers.
Finding no response from the bank's Gulshan branch, a written application was submitted to the head office on 12 August. As of 12 September, no solution is being made in this regard. So, the situation forced the company to send a letter to the new governor of Bangladesh Bank.
Banskhali power plant is known to be cost effective among coal-based power plants. For this reason, Banshkhali's name appears first on the Bangladesh Power Development Board's list of costs. Fuel consumption per unit of electricity is around Tk7.56. If the same amount of electricity is supplied with furnace oil, it will cost about Tk18. If 1320-MW capacity power plant goes in full production, it will be able to supply about 95 crore units of electricity per month. In a bid to get the same amount of electricity from furnace oil instead of coal, the government will have to spend an additional Tk950 crore which could pose a huge challenge for the interim government. Providing so much electricity is extremely difficult, both technically and financially.
