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| With the Asian Development Bank (ADB) hints its willingness to be behind mega power plants at the Phulbari coal mine site, the Asia Energy plans to build a 1000-MW power plant in its prospective mine project area for optimum utilization of the mine's coal. "Recently ADB has indicated a willingness to continue assisting the government in the energy and power sectors and have mentioned that they would be behind 2000 MW being installed at the Phulbari coal mine site," said Asia Energy (Bangladesh) Corporation's CEO Gary Lye "It should be noted that in order to finance a major power station one needs to have a fuel supply guarantee. With the plus 35 years life of the Phulbari Coal Project, Asia Energy is in a position to offer such a guarantee," he said. He informed that the UK-based coal-mine developer planned to set up the plants at Phulbari recently considering the country's electricity demand, now increasing at a rate of about 8-10 percent a year. However, implementation of the power project will depend on government approval to a development scheme submitted by the company in 2005. The government is yet to approve the Asia Energy's development scheme as it was waiting for adoption of a national coal policy on the basis of which all the future development projects in the coal sector will get approval. Now a draft coal policy has been framed and it is expected to be approved by the government within a few months, through a careful vetting of the maiden policy for the up-and-coming sector of the country's natural resources. As per the development scheme, the Asia Energy will invest over US$2 billion to develop the Phulbari Coal Mine project through open-pit mining method from which it would annually produce 15 million metric tons of high-quality coal. Gary Lye said that the proposed power plant would consist of two units, each having 500-MW generation capacity. He said his firm has a plan to extend the generation capacity of the power plant to 2000 MW considering the future electricity demand. According to Gary, the power plant was designed to set up within the Phulbari Coal Mine area as a mine-mouth plant aiming to reduce the cost related to transportation of the coal. The country has been facing a nagging electricity crisis as it could produce about 3500-3600 megawatts of power against a demand for more than 5000 MW. The shortage always prevails at 1500-2000 MW. The government is aggressively trying to reduce the shortage by installing new plants. But fund constrains have been the main barrier. As per the Power System Master Plan 2005, the country will need 42,000 MW additional electricity by 2025 to meet the growing demand. Of this, 37,000MW power will have to be generated with coal as the country's gas reserve is proceeding towards depletion. Experts believe that the present gas reserve in the country would exhaust by 2015 if no new discovery could be made in the meantime. The country's total proven and probable recoverable gas reserve is 20 trillion cubic feet (TCF) from 22 gas fields, of which 5 TCF has already been consumed. On the other hand, country's coal reserve is estimated to be 2,514 million tons. The government is also considering not allowing any new gas-based power plant after 2011 because of limited gas reserve. Rather, its target is to encourage installing coal-based power plants after 2011. As Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed has urged foreign entrepreneurs to work as 'investment ambassadors' of Bangladesh, representatives of the foreign companies who have already made investment in the country called for implementing reforms in the financial sector to attract more overseas investment. The foreign companies want to see the actual implementation of reforms so far undertaken by the government in the financial sector, according to Bangladesh Permanent Representative to UN offices in Geneva Ambassador Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya who is accompanying the CA to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos. Fakhruddin and the CEOs of seven leading business companies made the interactions during a dinner at a hotel in this snow covered hilly resort town of Davos. Business leaders and CEOs who attended the dinner include President and CEO Yakir Mahmood of Habib Bank Ltd of Pakistan; Jasbir Singh, CEO of Standard Chartered of UK; Bruno Lafont, chairman and CEO of Lafarge, France; Jasmine M Whitbread, CEO of International Save the Children Alliance, UK; Martina Roth, CEO of Intel, Germany; and Prakash Hinduja of Hinduja Group of India. The chief adviser apprised them of the political and economic background before the incumbent caretaker government took over as well as administrative and economic reforms undertaken by his government in past one year. The business representatives appreciated the government's reforms agenda and ongoing anti-corruption drive. They said power generation is one of the fundamental elements to attract foreign investments and wanted to know if coal and gas in Bangladesh are adequately being exploited. They also suggested time-bound decision on investment and equal treatment for foreign companies like national companies. On the question of image crisis of Bangladesh, the CEOs observed Bangladesh's image is better than many other countries in the world but they apprehended vulnerability of the country's economy. The foreign company representatives also wondered whether a credible political leadership would be in place through reforms after the next elections. A national consensus is needed on reform measures and sustainability of a participatory democracy, they observed. The chief adviser mentioned the caretaker government is trying hard to create an enabling atmosphere for foreign investment saying that Bangladesh has lot of potential for investment. Foreign Adviser Ifetkhar Ahmed Chowdhury and CA's Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim were also present at the dinner. Summit Power Subsidiary Signs Deals with EnergyPAC Under the three contracts, Energypac Engineering will provide services of design, engineering, procurement, supply, manufacturing, erection, installation, testing and commissioning of two 11 kV switch gears & panels, related protection equipments with panels including necessary equipments and related works for 33 MW power generation projects to be installed at Maona and 11 MW power generation project to be installed at Ullapara. Mahmud Hasan FCMA – Financial Controller and Company Secretary of Summit Power Ltd, signed the contracts on behalf of Summit Uttaranchol Power Company Limited and Engr. Rabiul Alam, Director and CEO of Energypac Engineering Ltd, signed on behalf of his company. Tauhidul Islam – Managing Director Summit Power Ltd, Jafer Ummeed Khan and Faisal K. Khan, Directors of Summit Group, Dr. Mirza Khairuzzaman - Senior Executive Director, A.N.M. Tariqur Rashid - Executive Director (Planning & Development), Saiful Alam - Executive Director (Operation & Maintenance) of Summit Power Ltd and other senior officials from both the companies were also present at the ceremony held at Summit Centre in Dhaka. |
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