7th coal carrier for Matarbari power plant to arrive on 19 Sep

A bulk carrier from Indonesia carrying 67,000 tonnes of coal for the Matarbari Power Plant in Cox's Bazar will arrive at Matarbari jetty on 19 September.

This is the seventh coal carrier brought for Matarbari Ultra Supercritical Coal Fired Power Project, said the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA).

Till now, around 400,000 tonnes of coal was brought from Indonesia in six ships for the power plant.

According to the CPA, the first ship with coal arrived at Matarbari Jetty on 25 April. Another vessel carrying coal is scheduled to arrive in October.

The Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited is implementing the 1,200 MW power plant project.

Coal Power Generation Company Executive Director Abul Kalam Azad told The Business Standard that coal ships are coming continuously. The trial production of the power plant started on 29 July. Trial production is currently halted as equipment testing is in progress. It will resume soon.

He also said that the construction of the coal power plant is almost completed. The 400 KV power line has been completed. Commercial production of 600 MW electricity will start in this power plant from next December, and another 600 MW will be added in 2024.

Around 10,000 tonnes of coal per day will be required once production starts, he added. The power plant has a storage capacity of 600,000 tonnes of coal.

The Chattogram Port Authority provides all assistance including berthing of ships at the jetty of the power plant. Coal is then unloaded from the ship through a conveyor belt using state-of-the-art technology. Coal discharge from a mother vessel will take at least four days.

According to the Chattogram Port, 118 ships have arrived at Matarbari jetty so far with cargo and coal for the coal power plant. The income of the port by loading and unloading ships is Tk9.50 crore.

The construction of the jetty started in August 2015 to bring the machinery of the power plant. Two jetties, 250m wide, 18m deep along with 14km long channel or inlet were constructed. A breakwater has been constructed which is 2,150m long on the northern side and 670m long on the southern side of the channel.