A huge amount of soil has been found in the consignment of coal worth about one thousand crore taka imported for the Maheshkhali Matarbari coal-fired power plant in Cox’s Bazar. Due to the huge amount of soil with the coal, the conveyor belt repeatedly broke down during unloading. In this situation, unloading has been stopped and the ship has been sent to outer anchor.

Indian suppliers have started a race to dispose of this coal mixed with soil that is unusable in the power plant. It is learned that a high-level meeting will be held in the ministry on Sunday in this regard.

It is learned that a Singapore-flagged ship named MV Orient Orchid entered the Matarbari channel on March 17 with 63 thousand tons of coal worth about one thousand crore taka for the Matarbari coal-fired power plant. After the coal was unloaded, it was seen that the amount of soil in the consignment was more than the coal. As a result, the unloading conveyor belt was repeatedly damaged during the unloading of the coal. Somehow 22,350 tons of coal were unloaded. At one point, the unloading was stopped and the ship with 40,650 tons of coal was sent to the outer anchorage. Currently, the ship is anchored at the outer anchorage, according to Chittagong Port sources.

A responsible official of Matarbari Port said that the amount of soil in the ship is more than coal. That is why the belt was getting damaged repeatedly. We stopped the unloading activities and sent the ship out of the channel. Therefore, the port authorities sent the ship out of the channel.