Another ship with 65,000 tonnes of coal for Matarbari power plant arrives

A ship from Indonesia arrived with 65,000 tonnes of coal for Matarbari coal-based power plant in Cox's Bazar on Sunday (12 November).

With the latest arrival, 11 ships have so far brought coal for the power plant, said Abul Kalam Azad, director of the Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal-fired Power Project.

Abul Kalam Azad said this ship left for Matarbari power plant from a sea port in Indonesia on 1 November. The ship arrived at the jetty of the power plant on Sunday noon.

"It may take about a week to unload all the coal from the ship," he said.

The project director also said, "Two lakh tonnes of coal is already stored at the plant. Matarbari power plant has two units with a capacity of 1,200 MW each."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina officially inaugurated the commercial production of the first unit on Saturday (11 November).

"The first unit needs 5,000 tonnes of coal per day for power generation, barring any malfunctions. And in case of any malfunction, the demand for raw materials increases slightly. The increase can range from 500 to 1,000 tonnes," said Abul Kalam Azad.

With 2.65 lakh tonnes of coal, including the newly arrived 65,000 tonnes, it will be possible to supply raw materials for power generation for 53 days as per daily average demand of 5,000 tonnes, he added.

Earlier on 26 October, the last ship arrived from Indonesia with 63,500 tonnes of coal. The first ship carrying coal for the power plant arrived on 25 April this year.