Photo: Collected
The government has now taken an initiative to build a large-scale solar power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat, near the Sundarbans. A proposal has been made to set up a 442-megawatt solar power plant on 685 acres of land in this area, which is much talked about because of the coal-fired thermal power plant. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will implement the project at the initiative of the Power Division.
The project, titled ‘Construction of Rampal 442 megawatt peak solar power plant’, will be placed for approval at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) today.
According to Planning Commission sources, the total cost of the project has been estimated at Tk 2,502 crore 39 lakh 59 thousand. Of this, Tk 375 crore 35 lakh 94 thousand will come from the BPDB’s own funds. The remaining Tk 2,127 crore 3 lakh 65 thousand will be provided from the ‘Power Sector Development Fund’. The project has been proposed for implementation from July of the current year to December 2026. It is also on the list of unapproved new projects in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) of the current fiscal year.
In 2012, 1,834 acres of land were acquired in Rampal upazila of Bagerhat for setting up a power plant. The land is divided into two parts – Block A and Block B. In Block A, the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant has been set up as a joint venture of Bangladesh and India. Block B is under the BPDB. The amount of land owned by the BPDB there is 918.50 acres. Of this, 76.63 acres are green belt, 23.87 acres flood protection embankment, 94 acres lowland and 30 acres lake. Excluding these areas, the remaining 685 acres of land have been proposed for use for the solar power plant. Under the project, besides installing solar panels, inverter stations, a pooling substation and the transmission infrastructure needed to supply electricity to the national grid will be built.
Meanwhile, besides the Rampal solar power project, a total of 12 projects, including 10 new ones and one revised, are scheduled to be placed for approval at today’s Ecnec meeting. Prime Minister and Ecnec Chairperson Tarique Rahman will preside over the meeting. The list for approval includes various projects such as road and drainage development in 18 wards of five new zones of Dhaka South City Corporation, development of various infrastructure and rehabilitation of damaged roads of Rangpur City Corporation, and construction of roads, drains and footpaths in zones 1 to 8 of Gazipur City Corporation. Besides, there are also projects for procuring 35 commercial and eight auxiliary vessels and constructing two new slipways for the BIWTC, procuring 30 metre-gauge diesel-electric locomotives for Bangladesh Railway, renovating and modernising the chancery building purchased in Paris, France, and constructing the second Karatoya bridge in Panchagarh.
The list also has a proposal to extend the tenure of the Thanchi-Remakri-Madan-Likri road construction project for the fourth time, skills development and entrepreneurship creation for women through cooperatives, and a rural infrastructure development project for Sirajganj, Bogura and Naogaon districts. Apart from these, Ecnec will also be informed about the project, approved by the planning minister, for re-excavation of Nandahar, the Harabati river, Nungola canal and Kharoa canal in Joypurhat district.
