Delay in opening LC (letter of credit) for import of spare parts has created concern about production complications in Barapukuria coal mine which may hamper electricity generation of Barapukuria coal power plant.
Energy and Mineral Resources Division has said that immediate alternative measures must be taken to avoid disruption in coal extraction. But coal mining authorities said they planned to stock additional coal to deal with the crisis.
According to sources, some equipment have to be installed to extract coal from the new phase of coal mining. Despite trying to open an LC during the two months to import the equipment from abroad, it has not yet been possible. After opening the LC, it takes at least three more months to import and install the equipment.
Energy Division sources said an emergency meeting of the division was held recently, where the mining authorities said that already two months elapsed for opening LC. At the meeting, Mahbub Hossain, senior secretary of the energy division, said the delay in opening the LC was not acceptable. He also asked the official concerned not to create production gap in the mine.
A mining official said it took about 1.5 months to shift from one shift to another. This time it will take 4-5 months due to the complexity of LC opening.
‘If coal is not extracted for a long time, it will not be possible to supply the required coal to Barapukuria Coal Power Plant for power generation. As a result, there would be a low-voltage along with load shedding crisis in the northern region as the coal-fired power plant in Dinajpur runs on coal from the Barapukuria mine,’ he added.
Mohammad Kamruzzaman Khan, Managing Director of the Barapakuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL) told Bangladesh Post, ‘earlier we were trying to open an LC through Rupali Bank. But they did not agree. Now the LC will be opened through Agrani Bank. Hope, it will be possible to open the LC in a week.’
‘Plans have been made to stock additional coal so as not to disrupt the supply of coal. At present there are 2.5 lakh tonnes of coal reserves. An average of 60-70 thousand tonnes of coal is supplied every month. So, hopefully there will be no problem in coal supply,’ he said.
In addition, in June 2018, when the phase of the mine was changed, the mining authorities stated that production of coal would stop as there were are enough stocks of coal. Then in July it was found that there is no coal. Then came the coal theft scandal. A total of 19 people, including the former managing director, were also sued over the issue. The power plant had to be shut down due to lack of coal. The production in the mine stopped in July last year due to phase change.
Barapukuria coal field has been discovered by the Geological Survey of Bangladesh (G.S.B) in 1985. On 4th June 2005, first management and production (M&P) contract has been signed between BCMCL and Chinese consortium (XMC-CMC) for the production of 4.75 million tons of coal.
According to this contract, work started in September 2005 and completed in August 2011. About 3.651 million tonnes of coal was extracted from the central part during that time.
The second contract (management, production, maintenance and provisioning-MPM&P) has been signed between the BCMCL and Chinese consortium (XMC-CMC) for production of 5.50 million tonnes of coal.
About 5.50 million tonnes of coal from the field was extracted up to 10 August 2017 last. Later, a 3rd contract (management, production, maintenance and provisioning-MPM&P) has been signed between the BCMCL and Chinese consortium (XMC-CMC) for the production of 3.205 million tonnes of coal.
As per this contract, work started on 11 August 2017 and will be completed on 10 August 2021. About 2.377 million tonnes of coal has been produced up to June 2020 under this contract. It will be possible to produce rest of the coal (0.828MT) from the reserves of the central part.