- DHAKA: Bangladesh has invited bids to build a 300- to 450-megawatt gas- based power plant as part of its efforts to ease electricity shortages often cited as a hindrance to growth and investment, a senior official said.
“This is a new project by the government. The selected bidder will have to build the plant in 2-1/2 years and then hand over to the authority,” the official at the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board said.
The tender for the gas-fired combined cycle power plant, to be built in Bibiyana in the country’s northeast, will open on Oct. 18.
It has been floated as part of the government’s plan to triple power generation to 15,000 MW by 2016.
As many as 89 power plants — 32 in the public sector and 57 in the private sector — will be set up to achieve that goal.
The plan also includes imports of 1,000 MW of power from India, Nepal and Bhutan.
Besides, 2,000 MW of nuclear power is expected to be generated, with the construction of a nuclear power plant.
A number of costly rental power plants, mostly run by fuel oil, are coming online as the country also faces a severe natural gas shortage.
However, the government hopes to add about 1 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas per day to its national grid by the end of 2012, with a deal signed last month with ConocoPhilips to explore for gas and oil in the Bay of Bengal.
Barely 45 percent of Bangladesh’s 150 million people have access to electricity.