Staff Reporter :
After closure of Payra and Bashkhali Thermal Power Plants, a Chinese cargo ship “MV Zhe Hai” arrived at Mongla Port carrying coal for the Rampal Thermal Power Plant in Bagherhat district on Saturday morning.
Though the people have heaved a sigh of relieve from severe heat wave due to rain in the last two days and the load shedding will again hamper the normal life after the cloudy weather.
Meanwhile, the government has assured the countrymen that the electricity supplying will become normal within two weeks.
However, the port authority has started the unloading of 26,620 tonnes of coal from the MV Zhe Hai cargo at the Mongla port.
According to sources, the unloading of the coal from the vessel started around 9:40am and it is being deposited to the jetty of Rampal Power Plant through a lighterage vessel.
The Chinese ship ‘MV Zhe Hai’ departed from Indonesia for Bangladesh on 21 May.
According to Toggi Shipping and Logistics Limited(TSLL) Assistant Manager Khondkar Riyaazul Haque, MV Zhe Hai’s local shipping agent, the coal-laden Chinese ship arrived at the 11th anchorage of the Pussur Channel, Harbaria, around 5am on Saturday morning.
He said that the unloading of coal from the ship and transportation work started shortly after arriving the cargo ship at the Mongla port.
Earlier, on May 16, the Bangladeshi flag-bearing vessel MV Basundhara Empress arrived at Mongla Port carrying 30,000 tonnes of coal, and on May 29, MV Basundhara Majesty arrived with 30,500 tonnes of coal for the Rampal power plant.
The 1,320-MW coal-fired Payra Power Plant in Patuakhali has been shut temporarily due to shortage of coal since June 5.
The outstanding amount for coal of Payra Power Plant until April of this year stands at approximately $390 million (around Tk4,000 crore), while the Bangladesh Bank and the government have already paid approximately $100 million against the debt.
In continuation to the crisis of coal shortage, S Alam Group’s coal-based 1320-MW Banshkhali power plant was forced to shut down on Friday.
The SS Power Plant, situated in Gondamara area of Banshkhali upazila in Chattogram, started generating power on 4 June following a request from the Power Development Board after the Payra power plant’s shutdown.