Bangladesh approves 14.13 bln USD nuclear power plant scheme

Bangladesh's highest economic policy-making body has given the green light to a proposal to build the country's first nuclear power plant with financing from Russia.

The Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant was approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Tuesday, an official said Wednesday.

The Planning Ministry official said the country's biggest ever project in terms of financial involvement will require an estimated 1.13 trillion taka (about 14.13 billion U.S. dollars).

Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal earlier said the government would provide 220.52 billion taka (2.75 billion U.S. dollars) from the national exchequer while Russia will provide 910.40 billion taka (11.38 billion U.S. dollars) at 4.0 percent interest as project assistance to be repaid back in 20 years with a 10-year grace period.

The proposed plant would generate 2,400 megawatt electricity through two units.

The Bangladeshi government in December last year finalized the biggest ever investment project in the country by inking an agreement with Russian state-owned nuclear giant Rosatom.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Bangladesh Awami League party said "Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant" to be constructed in the country's Pabna district, 216 km west of the capital Dhaka, was part of the government's vision to produce 60,000 megawatts of power by 2041.

Speaking at a ceremony in Dhaka Wednesday, Hasina said the government has set a target of generating 24,000 megawatts of electricity by 2021 and 60,000 megawatts by 2041. (1 U.S. dollar equals about 80 taka) Endit