Shawdesh Desk:

Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi Tuesday jointly unveiled unit 1 of Maitree Super Thermal Power Project in Bagerhat’s Rampal.

Constructed under India’s concessional financing scheme, the project will add 1320 MW to Bangladesh’s national grid.

Earlier, Hasina and Modi witnessed signing of seven bilateral instruments after holding talks at Hyderabad House in India’s capital city.

The first unit of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant will go into commercial operation early October, in a major stride in growing Bangladesh-India power sector cooperation, an official told UNB.

Unit 1 of the 1320 MW coal-fired power plant was successfully synchronised with the national grid on August 15.

Once both units are commissioned, Rampal power plant will be one of the largest in Bangladesh, Subhash Chandra Pandey, project director of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited, told UNB.

Unit 2 of the power plant, also known as Rampal coal-fired power project, is expected to be commissioned early next year, he said.

Rampal power plant is being set up at a cost of approximately $2 billion and is located in the Bagerhat district of Khulna division, said an official describing the project features in detail.

It is being built by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited for the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Private Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture company between India’s National Thermal Power Company Ltd and Bangladesh Power Development Board, said the officials.

The project director said the power plant is being set up with super critical technology to actively mitigate environmental impact.

Construction of an advanced ship un-loader for coal as well as a fully covered coal stock yard, along with use of high grade imported coal with low Ash and Sulphur content, among other measures, are in place, he said.

On April 6, the 400 kV GIS switchyard and interconnecting transformer of the power plant was energised.