16 sluice gates of Kaptai dam opened
Rokshana Pinkey, Rangamati
As the water in the Kaptai Dam in Rangamati has crossed the danger level, the 16 sluice gates of the Karnaphuli Hydroelectric Power Station (Kapabike) spillway have been opened to 6 inches.
In this, 9 thousand cusecs of water is falling into Karnaphuli river every second. Karnaphuli water power plant managing engineer ATM Abduzzaher confirmed that 16 sluice gates were opened at 8 am on Sunday.
Engineer Abduzzaher said, "The water of Kaptai Lake has been increasing for the past few days due to the hill slopes coming down from the upstream." Last Saturday night, the lake water crossed 108 feet mean sea level.On Sunday morning, as the water level of Kaptai Lake was 108.32 feet mean sea level, i.e. crossing the danger limit, on the advice of the Lake Management Committee, we released 6 inches of water through 16 sluices of Kaptai Spillway at 8 am.In this, 9 thousand cusecs of water is discharged through 16 gates every second and falls into the Karnaphuli river.
He also mentioned that the maximum water capacity of Kaptai lake is 109 feet MSL. He also said that 33 thousand cusecs of water is being drained every second for the power generation of the five units of the centre.
The concerned officials said that the five units of the country's only hydropower plant located at Kaptai in Rangamati produce a maximum of 230 to 240 MW of electricity daily, which is added to the national grid. Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, 220 megawatts of electricity was generated from 5 units.
