PM inaugurates largest public sector power plant
Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) president Sheikh Hasina, on Saturday, urged the people of the country to vote her party to power again, “to keep the present momentum of development uninterrupted”. Addressing a public meeting at Shaheed Monju Stadium at Araihazar upazila in the district, the Premier also warned that if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) comes to power, the opposition party would destroy the country.
“Cast your vote for the ‘boat’, AL’s election symbol, for continuing the present pace of development. If BNP and its allies—Jamaat and Hefazat—come to power, they will push the country towards destruction,” the Prime Minister warned.
Sheikh Hasina alleged that the opposition has become desperate to protect the war criminals.
She said the BNP would initiate a newly styled politics of vengeance, corruption, militancy and terrorism, which they had unleashed during 2001-2006, if they can capture power again.
She said Bangladesh had fallen behind in all economic and social indexes during the past tenure of the BNP, and “the leader of the opposition has already issued threats that many of our ongoing development activities would be obstructed”.
Sheikh Hasina said the BNP leader and her allies, Jamaat and Hefazat, have already started rehearsing, in many parts of the country, what they plan to do if they come to power. They will open Hawa Bhaban in a new way and start attacking political opponents and minorities, rape women, and resort to arson, she claimed.
The BNP will stop the education support programmes undertaken by the present government, including free distribution of textbooks among students, stipends and community clinics, and the country would also experience a big jolt in the way of its digitisation.
Agriculture minister Begum Matia Chowdhury, local government and rural development (LGRD) and cooperatives minister Syed Ashraful Islam, the Prime Minister’s adviser Tawfiq-e- Elahi Chowdhury, state minister for power, Enamul Haque, and state minister for primary and mass education, Motahar Hossain, addressed the meeting. The president of the upazila unit of the Awami League, Alhaj Shajalal Mia, was in the chair.
Central Awami League leaders Ahmed Hossain, SM Kamal Hossain and Enamul Haque Shamim, Nasim Osman, MP, Nazrul Islam Babu, MP, Gazi Golam Dastagir, MP and Subid Ali Bhuiyan, MP, also spoke on the occasion.
Recalling the grenade attack on an Awami League rally in Dhaka on August 21, 2004, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said the politics of conspiracy had begun in Bangladesh, after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The people’s rights to food and franchise were snatched from them and Bangladesh was made a country of terrorism and militancy, she added.
She pointed out that Bangladesh was liberated under the leadership of Bangabandhu, who also rebuilt the war-ravaged country within a short period of time after independence. But, Bangabandhu was killed when he was carrying the country forward towards economic progress.
Sheikh Hasina said that coming to power after 21 years, Awami League had made the country self-sufficient in food production, but Bangladesh again went through a phase of food crisis during BNP’s last tenure. BNP tried to cling to power by casting 1.23-crore false votes. But people of the country had foiled their ill motive, she added.
She said that taking office in 2001, BNP had resorted to a reign of terror across the country. Many Awami League leaders and workers, including former finance minister SAMS Kibria and Ahsanullah Master, were killed at the behest of BNP.
BNP killed 17 workers as they wanted enhanced wages, while 18 farmers were killed for demanding fertiliser, she said, adding that the BNP government had shot people dead in Kansat, for demanding electricity.
The Prime Minister noted that the state of emergency was declared in the country in 2007, and a military-backed caretaker government clung to power for two years, due to the failure of BNP. No section of people could escape their torture. BNP has not changed its character at all, over the past seven years, she added.
Emphasising her government’s initiative for power generation in the private sector, the PM said that after coming to power in 1966, the Awami League government had taken such initiatives in Haripur and Meghnaghat.
Thanking the people of Narayanganj for electing all five candidates of the Mohajote in the last general election, she said that the people’s mandate had helped her government to initiate massive development work in Narayanganj.
The PM inaugurated 14 development projects and laid the foundation stones of some others in the district, before addressing the public meeting.
These projects include the 412-megawatt Haripur combined-cycle power plant, the largest base-load power plant in the public sector, under the incumbent Awami League government.
Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) has implemented the power plant project at Haripur in Narayanganj, with financial support from Japan.
From the rally venue, Sheikh Hasina also inaugurated Muktijoddha SM Mazharul Haque Auditorium and Community Centre at Araihazar, Narayanganj Circuit House, and Sri Jyoti Basu Memorial Library and Seminar Hall at Sonargaon.
She also laid the foundation stones of the main office of the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training on Applied Nutrition (BIRTAN), Primary Teachers’ Training Institute in Narayanganj, extension of upazila complex and the extended administrative building at Araihazar, extended administrative building of upazila complex in Rupganj, a 576.214-metre PC girder bridge on the Shitalakhya River at Murapara Ferighat, Agricultural Training Institute, upgrading of Bandar upazila health complex to 50-bed from the existing 31-bed one, a 75-metre PC girder bridge on Doyakanda Canal under Araihazar upazila, and Siddhirganj 335-megawatt combined-cycle power plant.
UNB adds: Hasina on Saturday formally inaugurated the newly-set up 412 MW Haripur combined cycle power plant, the largest base-load power plant in public sector under the incumbent Awami League government.
Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) has implemented the power plant project at Haripur in Narayanganj with financial support from Japan. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has provided US$ 491 million for a number of components in the Haripur power plant project, including extension of a 132KV substation for power evacuation, construction of 1.6-km gas pipeline, and relocation and demolition of old substations. EGCB sources said the power plant is set in motion for full-scale operation, but it may not go into full production until a connecting gas pipeline is completed.
Initially, it can supply about 200 MW. When the pipeline will be built and gas supply to be available in February 2014, the plant will be able to produce 412 MW of electricity consuming 64mmcfd of gas a day.
A temporary gas metering station has been installed to supply gas from a 100 MW old power plant on the same premises. State-run Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL) is now implementing a 60-kim Bakhrabad-Siddhirganj pipeline to supply gas to the 412MW Haripur power plant. Officials said the power production cost is Tk 1.7154 per unit with 53 percent efficiency level. Marubeni Corporation of Japan has worked as the Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor of the project.
Hasina inaugurated the power plant from a public rally organised by local Awami League at Shaheed Manju Stadium, Araihazar. From the rally venue, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also inaugurated Muktijoddha SM Mazharul Haque Auditorium and Community Centre at Araihazar, Narayanganj Circuit House and Sri Jyoti Basu Memorial Library and Seminar Hall at Sonargaon. She also laid the foundation stones of the main office of Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training on Applied Nutrition (BIRTAN), Primary Teachers Training Institute in Narayanganj, extension of upazila complex and the extended administrative building at Araihazar, extended administrative building of upazila complex in Rupganj, 576.214-metre long PC Girder bridge on the Shitalakhya River at Murapara Ferighat, Agricultural Training Institute, upgradation of Bandar upazila health complex to 50-bed from the existing 31-bed one, 75-metre long PC Girder bridge on Doyakanda Canal under Araihazar upazila and Siddhirganj 335 MW combined cycle power plant.
Courtesy of The Independent
