The first unit of Matarbari coal-fired power plant in Maheshkhali of Cox's Bazar district is likely to go into production by this December, adding 600 MW of electricity to the national grid. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the plant, project officials told reporters this week. A ship carrying 64,300 mts of coal for the Matarbari plant had arrived from Indonesia on June 23. The 1200 MW power plant has been built on 1,414 acres of land in Matarbari and Dhalghata unions of Maheshkhali upazila of Cox's Bazar district. Fire in garbage dump at Matarbari Thermal Power Project under control after 8 hours Along with the construction of this power plant with Japanese funding on the coast of Cox's Bazar seven years ago, work has also started on the construction of port infrastructure and jetty for coal offloading from ships. While visiting the area recently, it was seen that the project implementing company, Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCL), is going ahead with the work of this mega project. The work of the jetty for the coal discharge with the power plant is almost finished. Vessels have also started sailing at the jetty. PM urges JICA to allow farmers to use wastage of sea water in the desalination project at Matarbari The project has changed the entire landscape of the area, said officials. Some 13,104 tons of coal will be required daily to generate electricity at full scale. Coal discharge jetties and silos have been constructed for this. Coal required for 60 days has been kept in the huge silos. Up to 80,000 ton capacity mother vessels can directly enter the coal jetty. And it will take one and a half to two days to unload the coal from the mother vessel. Two separate ashponds are kept to store ash for a lifetime of 25 years of the power plant. One has an area of 90 acres, another spread over 600 acres. Coal yard has been prepared on 80 acres of land for coal storage. 64,300 mts of coal for Matarbari coal-fired power plant arrives A loan agreement on the project was signed between the Government of Bangladesh and JICA on June 16, 2014. The project cost has been estimated at Tk 51,800 crores. Of this, Tk 43,921 crore will be given as project support by JICA and the remaining Tk 7,933 crore will be provided from the own funds of Bangladesh Government and CPGCBL. According to project sources, 95 percent of the jetty and physical infrastructure work has already been completed and 90 percent of the overall physical infrastructure work has been done. Executive Director Nazmul Huq, Matarbari coal-fired plant project said that PM Hasina will inaugurate the power plant in December. Read more: People suffer as severe load shedding continues countrywide “But we want to add 600 MW power from here before inauguration and that will happen. The first unit of the Matarbari coal-fired power plant is scheduled to be commissioned in January 2024, but we expect to be fully operational by this December,” he said. He mentioned that the second unit will be commissioned in next July. However, he said, electricity from both the units will be connected to the national grid. The executive director mentioned that the project is being worked on by ensuring all necessary measures to prevent environmental pollution. “The coal will be seen only once when the coal is unloaded from the ship. Then the coal will go directly from the jetty to the plant. It will not pollute the environment," he said. Read more: 26,620 mts of coal for Rampal Power plant arrives at Mongla Highlighting the overall status of the project, the executive director said, we have two parts of this project, one of which is the power plant, the other is the port. Cox's Bazar Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Shaheen Imran told reporters that the Matarbari Coal Power Project is a priority project of the prime minister.

Matarbari could become a regional commercial hub after the deep sea port opens. It will be used as a transshipment port. After Chittagong port, Matarbari will also be a lifeline of the economy. The Matarbari deep sea port will serve about 3 billion people of the region, including Bangladesh. Once fully operational, the port will contribute two to three percent of the country’s GDP, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury told UNB. The deep sea port is now visible. If work continues at this pace, Matarbari deep sea port could be operational from 2026. Construction of the jetty and container yard will start by July. A large number of feeder vessels will come to this port. Money and time will be saved. It will have a great impact on the economy, said the state minister for shipping. He said the port is being constructed on 1,031 acres of land at Matarbari Dhalghat area of Maheshkhali in Cox’s Bazar. With the construction of the deep sea port, container ships with a capacity of 8,200 TEU will be able to anchor there. Read more: Operation of Matarbari deep sea port to start in 2026: state minister At present, it takes 45 days to send a consignment of goods from Bangladesh to the United States. Once Matarbari deep sea port is opened, it will reach the designated destination directly in just 23 days, the state minister said. Bangladeshi consignments will no longer have to wait at the ports of Singapore, Colombo and Malaysia. According to the Chittagong Port Authority, commercial activities at Matarbari deep sea port are expected to start in full swing in 2026. But already over the last two years, 112 cargo ships have arrived at the port. Tk 6.84 crore has been collected from these ships. All equipment for power plant has come through Matarbari port. Due to the depth, any large commercial ship will be able to anchor at this port and there are all kinds of facilities for loading and unloading. Matarbari is 34 nautical miles from Chittagong port. It takes two-three hours to reach by ship. Its distance by road is about 112 km. A 27 km road is being constructed from Chakaria in Cox’s Bazar to Matarbari Dhalghat. Meanwhile, land acquisition for the construction of roads and port has been completed. The channel built for the port is 250 meters wide, 18.5 meters deep and 14.3 meters long. Read More: Ambassador Lee visits Matarbari Coal-powered Plant to observe South Korean company’s construction work The detailed design of the project has been completed. Besides, contractors are being appointed for the construction of the jetty, collection of ship handling equipment and the purchase of tug boats. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally inaugurate the construction work of the project in the middle of this year. Chittagong Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan told UNB that Matarbari’s distance from Chattogram by sea is 34 nautical miles, from Payra port it’s 190 nautical miles, and from Mongla port it’s 240 nautical miles. Therefore, goods from the mother vessel (large container ship) in Matarbari can be transported to other ports by road and sea in a short time. He also said at present, ships with a draft of only 9.5 metres can berth in the jetties of Chittagong port. However, recently a ship with 10-metre draft has been berthed there. But these ships can carry 800 to a maximum of 2400 TEU containers. A mother vessel has a capacity of 8,000 to 10,000 TEU. Once Matarbari deep sea port opens, container ships with a capacity of over 8,000 TEU will be able to anchor. Read More: Operation of Matarbari deep sea port to start in 2026: state minister The state minister for shipping said the Matarbari Port Development Project has been taken up at an estimated cost of Tk 17,777.20 crore to set up the country’s first and only deep sea port. The duration of this project is till December 31, 2026. After the approval of the project, the implementation process was started. He also said the construction of the 14.30 km long approach channel with a length of 350 metres and a depth of 16 metres has been completed for the construction of the deep sea port. Besides, the construction of 2,150 metre long breakwater on the north side of the approach channel and 670-metre-long breakwater on the southern side has been completed. At present, tenders have been invited in three packages for the construction of a 460 metre long container jetty and a 300 metre long multipurpose jetty and construction of all port facilities, including container yards. According to project sources, Matarbari port road is being constructed in three phases. A 27 km road from Matarbari to Fasiakhali in Chakaria will be constructed and it will be connected to the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar four-lane highway. The construction period of the road has been fixed from January 2020 to December 2026. If this road is completed, goods can be transported to any place in the country by road. Read More: Govt positive about Singapore company's 400MW Matarbari solar power plant proposal: Nasrul

The first commercial ship sailed through the Matarbari channel in Maheshkhali upazila on Tuesday morning, flying the Panama flag

A delayed move to hire a consultant has pushed back the process for selecting a qualified bidder for the country’s maiden land-based LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal project at Matarbari in Maheshkhali of Cox’s Bazar, energy industry sources say.