Dhaka, June 1 -- The country's biggest 660 MW Payra coal-fired power plant has remained shut for the past couple of weeks following its commercial operation of only five days.

The first unit of the Payra thermal power plant went into commercial operation on May 14 and continued it till May 19 before going for closure, according to statistics of Bangladesh Power Development Board, or BPDB.

Before its closure, the power plant was in operation.

Despite the closure, the power plant, owned by Bangladesh-China Power Company Ltd, or BCPCL, will get capacity payment from the BPDB as the latter could not utilise the power plant's electricity generation capacity.

Lower electricity demand due to the nationwide shutdown until May 30 squeezed elec...