LTL to build 100 MW power station in Bangladesh

Lakdhanavi Ltd., which is the power generation arm of LTL Holdings Group, has been awarded another contract by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) through international competitive bidding process to construct a 114 MW thermal power plant, using Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) on Build, Own and Operate Basis to supply electricity to the national grid of Bangladesh for 15 years. The relevant Letter of Intent (LOI) was issued to Lakdhanvi Ltd. on 15 May.

This will be the fifth power plant that will be built in Bangladesh by LTL. 

Lakdhanavi is planning to sign the relevant Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Implementation Agreement (IA) with BPDB and the Ministry of Power Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) of Bangladesh soon and complete the construction work within the prescribed tenure of 18 months. The company expects to finance the project which will require an investment of $ 100 million approximately through a project loan from international development finance institutions under very competitive terms and the sponsor’s equity contribution. The operation costs of the power plant is planned to be kept at lowest level through direct imports of HFO from international markets at competitive terms which contributes to over 80% of the direct cost.

This latest contract is yet another feather in LTL’s cap, enhancing its standing as Sri Lanka’s largest internationally acclaimed Electrical and Heavy Engineering Power Company.

LTL Group has been very active in the power sector of Bangladesh since 2010. Initially LTL secured two Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts to build two 100 MW power plants for Orion Group of Bangladesh in Magnaghat and Shiddihrganj respectively. 

Thereafter, Lakdhanavi Ltd. secured two contacts in 2011 to construct power plants of capacity of 52.2 MW each (‘Raj Lanka’ and ‘Lakdhanavi Bangla’) under Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis in Natore and Comilla, Bangladesh through international competitive bidding, to supply electricity to national grid of Bangladesh for 15 years under Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) signed with BPDB. 

Lakdhanavi has set up two subsidiary companies in the names of Raj Lanka Power Company Ltd. (RLPCL) and Lakdhanavi Bangla Power Ltd. (LBPL) and completed construction on time and commenced commercial operations in 2014.

The operation style of LTL of these two power plants has brought a paradigm shift in the power plant maintenance style among private sector power plants in Bangladesh which embraced the international best practices adopted by LTL. Now, these two facilities are considered as role model power plants in Bangladesh.

Due to this excellent track record in that country Lakdhanavi/LTL was able to procure this new and very important contract to build, on a turnkey basis a 114 MW Thermal power plant.

This is yet another feather in LTLs cap, enhancing its standing as Sri Lanka’s largest internationally acclaimed Electrical & Heavy Engineering Power Company.

The justifiably proud LTL Group CEO U.D. Jayawardana said, “We have found an ideal market in Bangladesh for investment in power generation, with its huge supply-demand deficit, safe investment climate and an environment that welcomes IPPs as a concept to fill shortages of local capital formation for infrastructure development.” 

LTL has already designed, built and currently operates the 300 MW Combined Cycle power plant ‘Yugadhanavi’ at Kerawalapitiya, the first private power plant in Sri Lanka, the 24MW diesel power plant ‘Lakdhanavi’ in Sapugaskanda (now de-commissioned), the first IPP plant, 100MW ‘Heladhanavi’ Power Plant in Puttalam (now de-commissioned) , and a 24MW power plant in Chunnakam, Jaffna. 

LTL is also involved in renewable power as well having its own 15 MW Wind Power installations in Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka, ‘Pavandhanavi’. 

It has also has several mini hydro power installations in Sri Lanka, generation close upon a total of 5 MW under the name ‘Nivindu’.

LTL has recently procured a 10 MW solar Power installation in the Maldives. 

In addition, LTL Holdings is also pursuing with a very large power generation project in Myanmar. Considering its excellent track record of building and operating high quality, reliable power plants, it is hopeful that this project will also materialise in the near future. 

The company’s transformer manufacturing plant, which was its pioneering venture in the early 1980’s, today exports more than 50% of its distribution transformer manufacturing capacity to more than 30 countries in the world. 

By its pioneering efforts to move off shore the power plant management expertise of Sri Lankans, LTL has firmly put Sri Lanka on the international power map.

LTL is therefore justifiably proud to bring honour to Sri Lanka, proving once again, that given the correct environment, training, teamwork, perseverance and hard work, Sri Lanka can aspire to be world class. 

The journey of more than 30 years of LTL has been one of hard work, ingenuity and confidence. Today, this Sri Lankan company is proud to look back at its humble beginnings, and proud to be now considered as Sri Lanka’s foremost engineering company, operating in the international arena and earning valuable foreign exchange to the country.