DHAKA, 18 April 2021, (TON): Five workers of power plant at Banshkhali's Gandamara were killed and fifteen injured by Police in an attempt to disperse protesters demanding payment of dues.

Anwar Hossain, Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Chittagong confirming that the incident took place on Saturday afternoon in which five workers died;identified as Rony, resident of Chuadanga, Mohammad Rahad resident of Kishoreganj, Shuvo resident of Narsingdi, Mahmud Reza resident of Banshkhali, and Raihan resident of Noakhali.

As per the details workers of the power plant at Banshkhali's Gandamara were of protest since Friday over their unpaid dues and few work hours off to allow to perform Ramzan prayers and Aftar. However, the management failed to resolve the crisis.

DIG Hossain said due Friday’s demonstrations fifty policemen were deployed at the power plant. Fifteen injured workers were taken to Chittagong Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

It was a joint venture coal-fired power plant between S. Alam Group of Bangladesh and two Chinese companies to set up the 1224 MW power project. Earlier, four locals were killed in police firing in Banshkhali over land acquisition troubles in 2016. This year S. Alam Group paid the penalty of 2 billion Bangladesh Takas to the government for keeping alive the controversial project.

The plant comprising two 612 MW generation units at Banshkhali in Chattogram was scheduled to start supplying electricity to the national grid from 16 November 2019, however, the government's power department found during inspection that the S. Alam group and its Chinese joint venture partners have completed only around 25 per cent of the project by that time. The group has now got an extension to complete the project by 2022. A joint venture company, or JVC, comprising Bangladeshi S. Alam Group and two Chinese firms had inked power purchase agreement, or PPA, and implementation Agreement with the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh Ltd (PGCB), to implement the power plant five years ago.

 The BPDB had provided the letter of intent to the JVC to set up the project on 31 October 2013. Two separate power companies under the JVC of SS Power I Ltd and SS Power II Ltd would separately implement the power plant project, as per the contract. Two Chinese firms -- SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation and HTG Development Group - have 20 per cent and 10 per cent stakes respectively, while S. Alam Group has 70 per cent stake in the project. Apart from being a stakeholder, the Chinese SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corporation is also the engineering, procurement and construction, or EPC, contractor of the project.

The way the project work has been advancing, S. Alam Group is unlikely to complete the project within the extended time too, said an insider. The BPDB and the PGCB inked deals with S. Alam Group to implement the project under the Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act 2010 bypassing tender. The law empowered the government with sweeping authority to skirt the existing laws in the energy and power sectors so that it can implement projects quickly. The BPDB is supposed to purchase electricity from these power plants at a tariff rate of US$ 8.259 cents for 25 years, as per the deal. An executive of the S Alam Group, however, said five foreign banks have assured to provide around US$2.60 billion as loan to implement the project.