New date set for Rampal power plant commissioning

Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPCL) has announced the new COD (Commercial operation date)of the two unite of the Rampal power plant in July and November 2022 after missing several deadlines due to pandemic and other issues.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor of this project have rescheduled the new dates of the COD, accordingly it will be July 2022 and November 2022 for the first unit and 2nd unit respectively, Sayeed Akram Ullah, Managing Director of BIFPCL told the Daily Observer on Tuesday.  
However, the work was supposed to be finished by December 2021 in line with the golden jubilee celebrations of Bangladesh's independence.
"We plan to feed Khulna with this power initially as we cannot send it to Dhaka as Power Grid Company Ltd is still working to get permission from the Padma Bridge Authority to complete its river crossing work," the MD said.
According to him the progress of unit-1 is over
90 per cent has been completed while overall progress stands at nearly 85 per cent of unit-2.
 "Since March 2020, the Covid situation exposed the people of both the countries to a new challenge along with affecting the implementation of the Maitree project. Now both sides are putting the best effort to complete the project in time," earlier, the Indian power ministry in a statement said.
Indian experts are constructing the plant in Bangladesh under a power-sharing agreement between BHEL and BIFPCL. The project work has resumed in full swing now, the plant has gathered pace with the return of over 1200 skilled expats workforce from India. Currently, over 7000 people, including 5500 Bangladeshi workers, are deployed at the project site.
According to the project officials, under unit-1, the turbine box-up of turbine generator-1 and the erection of the stator and rotor have already been completed. The lube oil flushing of the erection stages of turbine-1 has also been completed while insulation work on the turbine and insulation work of fly-ash is at the final stage. Meanwhile, the construction of the boiler structure and pressure part of unit 2 is progressing as well, said officials.
Considering the environmental impact on the Sundarbans, the height of the chimney of the coal-fired Rampal power plant has been fixed at 275 meters, on the other hand, the Payra power plant's chimney height has been fixed at 220 meters, BIFPCL authority claimed.
They claimed that the 1320 MW capacity Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant of BIFPCL is a unique one that is being implemented, maintaining all international standards of construction and environmental conditions amid a huge outcry at home and abroad by environmentalists, who expressed concerns over the long-term impact of the plan on the biodiversity and ecology of the mangrove forest.
In 2016, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report said that hot water and chemicals to be discharged into water bodies from the coal power plant would cause significant damage to the aquatic life in the river and canal networks of the Sundarbans.
Some of the in-built measures to minimize air and water pollution include a Flue Gas Desulphurization system (FGD) without any bypass to control the emission of SOx, integrated effluent, and a waste management system to avoid contamination of Pasur River.
The BIFPCL is constructing the 1,320MW Rampal plant, a joint venture of India's NTPC Limited and the Bangladesh Power Development Board, at a cost of $2 billion at 14 kilometres north of the Bangladesh part of the Sundarbans, also a UNESCO world heritage site.