The government will sign an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract tomorrow for installing the 1320-MW Payra coal-fired power plant in Patuakhali.
“The Payra coal-fired power plant would generate 1320 MW electricity from 2019,” Director General of Power Cell Mohammad Hossain told BSS here today.
He said the Bangladesh-China Power Company (Pvt) Limited (BCPCL), a joint venture firm of 
Chinese Power Company (CMC), and the state-owned North-West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL) would sign the EPC contract under a consortium of NEPC and CECC.
Hossain said the present government has a plan to set up series of coal-fired power plants. “Currently, 76 percent people of the country are enjoying electricity access while the power generation capacity reached to 14,500 MW,” he said.
According to officials sources, the Payra 1320-MW Thermal Power Plant would be established in Patuakhali under a joint venture initiative with Chinese Exim Bank’s finance.
Dr Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Bir Bikram, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister, and State Minister for the ministry Nasrul Hamid would witness the contact signing ceremony.
Earlier, the NWPGCL and the CMC signed a memorandum of understanding on March 19 last year to set up the plant to be built on the bank of the River Rabnabad near the Payra maritime port at an estimated cost of $ 2 billion.
The sources said the government planned setting up of a number of coal-fired power plants across the country to increase the power generation capacity to 34,000 MW by 2030 under the Power System Master Plan (2010-2030).
Bangladesh is also holding discussion with Indonesia and Australia for importing coal for this coal-fired power plant, he said.
-BSS
