TDS Desk

Cox’s Bazar’s Matarbari Coal-based Thermal Power Plant is set to resume electricity production on Saturday (November 30), following a month-long shutdown caused by a coal supply shortage.

The plant recently received 70,000 tons of coal delivered by an Indonesia-flagged ship which docked at its jetty on Wednesday morning. Another shipment of 66,000 tons of coal from Indonesia is expected to arrive on Sunday.

Manowar Hossain Majumder, Superintendent Engineer (Operations) at the site office of Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL), confirmed that the plant’s 600 MW first unit will be operational again from Saturday. He added that CPGCBL has signed a legal agreement with Meghna Group and Birla, a joint venture, to import 35 lakh metric tons of coal annually for the plant.

The Matarbari Coal Power Plant, which has a capacity of 1,200 MW across two units, was completely shut down on October 31 due to the coal shortage.