The first unit of the coal-fired Matarbari Power Plant here is to go on trial run today with its 600 MW generation capacity while officials expect its commissioning in December, reports BSS.
The first of the two units (of Matarbari Power Plant) starts its trial run on July 29, project director Abul Kalam Azad told BSS, adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was expected to commission the unit in December this year, launching its regular production.
He added that the combined generation capacity of the plant was 1200 MW while the entire plant was set to go on full scale operation in March or April next year, instead of July 2024 as planned earlier.
Matarbari Power Plant is one of the government’s mega projects with Japanese assistance to be built at an estimated cost of Tk 51,800 crores while it is also one of premier’s priority projects as well. According to officials concerned the entire plant would require 10,000 tonnes of coal everyday, each unit requiring 5,000 tonnes, while 2 lakh tonnes of coals were stored by now and 65,000 tonnes would reach the production site on August 7 next.
Four tanks having storage capacity of 1.7 million tonnes have already been built alongside two jetties at the project site to unload the coal to the tanks directly from the ships, the project director said.