Payra Power Plant resumes operations after 20 days

Payra Power Plant has resumed its operation from this morning after being closed for 20 days due to coal shortage.

A unit capable of generating 660 MW was commenced this morning.

Shah Abdul Hasib, superintending engineer of the power plant, confirmed the information to The Daily Star.

"Other unit will start operation soon," he added.

The BCPCL, a joint venture of Bangladesh's state-owned North-West Power Generation Company Limited and Chinese state-owned China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC), is the owner and operator of the 1,320 MW Payra coal-fired power plant.

A ship carrying 41,327 tonnes of coal arrived at Payra Port on Friday -- 18 days after the thermal power plant stopped electricity generation due to coal shortage.

Four more coal-carrying ships will arrive at Payra in the first week of July, according to plant officials.

The country's largest thermal power plant, Payra, completely shut down on June 5 due to coal shortage.

Due to failure in paying the outstanding bills of $390 million, caused by dollar shortage, production of a unit of the power plant was halted on May 25 as the companies involved stopped supplying coal.

Another unit's production continued until June 5, but that also shut down due to coal shortage -- leading to weeks of nationwide load-shedding amidst the hottest summer on record.