Cabinet okayes power purchase extension deals

The cabinet committee on public purchase in its meeting presided over by Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday gave its consent to the agreement extension proposal put by the Power Division. After the meeting, Additional Secretary to the cabinet division Mostafizur Rahman said the cabinet approved the proposal of the agreement extension for the next five years and tariff rates have been fixed after negotiation with the private power producers. However, tariff rates are much lower compared to the previous agreements as the government can save Tk817 crore this time, according to the proposal. The three-year tenure of five power plants expired six months back and M/S Acorn Infrastructure Service (100MW) will expire in next March. Under the approved agreement, in next five years, the government will have to pay Tk5,518.39 crore at a cost of Tk15.79 per unit to purchase electricity from the 100MW Orion Power Meghnaghat Ltd,  Tk6179.26 crore at a cost of Tk15.90 per unit from the Summit Group-owned owned M/S Khulna Power Company Ltd (115MW),  Tk2,207.31 crore at a cost of Tk15.75 per unit from M/S Khanjahan Ali Power Company Limited (40MW), Tk5,487.50 crore at per unit price of Tk15.66 from M/S Acorn Infrastructure Service (100MW), Tk5,523.35 crore with per unit cost Tk15.45 from Summit Narayanganj Power Ltd (102MW) and Tk5,523 crore at a cost of Tk15.45 per unit from Dutch Bangla Power and Association Ltd (100MW).