Summit Group yesterday signed an electricity purchase agreement with Bangladesh Power Development Board and an implementation deal with the power and energy ministry for a 149MW plant in Kodda, Gazipur.

Md Mozammel Hossain, managing director of Summit Ace Alliance Power Ltd, Mina Masud Uzzaman, secretary of BPDB, and Sheikh Faezul Amin, joint secretary for development of the power division, signed the deal at Bidyut Bhaban in the capital.

Speaking at the event, Muhammed Aziz Khan, chairman of Summit Group, said thanks to the power plant, Gazipur town and the Kaliakoir Hi Tech Park will get uninterrupted supply of electricity.

Gazipur is home to a large number of garment and other industries and they regularly face shortage of electricity, which force industrialists to set up captive power plants operating on diesel to keep their factories running.

The cost of electricity stands at Tk 20 per kilowatt-hour unit. But Summit's power plant will sell electricity to BPDB at Tk 7.15 per unit if it uses heavy fuel or at Tk 2.80 when using natural gas, said Khan in a statement. Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power and energy, Ahmad Kaikaus, power secretary, and Khaled Mahmood, chairman of BPDB, were also present at the signing ceremony.

Atkin Alliance, a Sri Lanka and Bangladesh joint venture, won the international tender for the project in 2011. But it could not implement the project due to a shortage of land. Later, Summit bought the shares of Atkin Alliance. The project is now expected to start commercial operation in March 2018.

The plant will be connected to Summit Technopolis Ltd, a joint venture between Summit Group of Bangladesh and Infinity Infotech Parks of India, in the Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park.