Rampal power plant deal likely today

The government is likely to sign today the final contract for building the 1,320-MW Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans with India’s Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). “The USD 1.2-billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract may be signed tomorrow if the Power Division gets the statutory regulatory order (SRO) from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for a tax exemption on bringing machinery and equipment for the proposed plant,” state minister for power and energy, Nasrul Hamid Bipu, told The Independent yesterday.
“If not, the contract will be signed on Wednesday,” he added. The government is moving ahead with the project despite widespread protests by environmentalists in the country. They claim that a coal-fired plant in the vicinity of the Sundarbans will cause massive and irreparable damage to the flora, fauna and ecology of the Unesco World Heritage Site, which is also home to the Royal Bengal tiger.
Also, Indian power secretary Pradeep Kumar Pujari along with senior officials is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka today to work on the modalities of the Indo-Bangla joint steering committee (JSC) on power.
The 18-member committee, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s energy adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, will visit the project area by helicopter on Wednesday and then hold the JSC meeting at a local hotel, sources in the power ministry said. During the visit, the joint working group (JWG) on power will hold a meeting on some bilateral issues, and the JSC team will finalise the JWG’s decisions, the sources added.
According to power ministry insiders, the JSC will also discuss the setting up of a 1,125-MW hydropower plant at Monger Gola in Bhutan, and Bangladesh will seek a corridor to import some of the power through Assam in India. Import of 500 MW of power will also be discussed in the meeting, they added.
In a related development, the state minister for power and energy held a meeting with environmentalists and economists to convince them about the Rampal project. However, the attendees were not convinced.
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, executive director of the Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (BALA), told The Independent that the signing of the contract for the power plant would be suicidal. “The consequences are unimaginable as the Sundarbans will be totally destroyed,” Hasan added.
Hamid, however, countered that the government had taken all necessary measures to safeguard the mangrove forest.
A few months before BHEL submitted the USD 1.2-billion proposal to set up 2 x 660 MW coal-fired Rampal power plant, Japanese company Marubeni Corporation had asked USD 1.8 billion for the same project.
The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India’s NTPC had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2010 for building the Rampal power plant. The projected cost of the coal-based super critical power plant is Tk. 14,999 crore. Of that amount, the BPDB will provide Tk. 4,500 crore from its own funds. The rest of the money will be procured as a loan from India’s Exim Bank. The tentative completion date of the plant is June 2021.

 

Rampal power plant deal likely today

The government is likely to sign today the final contract for building the 1,320-MW Rampal power plant near the Sundarbans with Indias Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). The USD 1.2-billion engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract may be signed tomorrow if the Power Division gets the statutory regulatory order (SRO) from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for a tax exemption on bringing machinery and equipment for the proposed plant, state minister for power and energy, Nasrul Hamid Bipu, told The Independent yesterday. If not, the contract will be signed on Wednesday, he added. The government is moving ahead with the project despite widespread protests by environmentalists in the country. They claim that a coal-fired plant in the vicinity of the Sundarbans will cause massive and irreparable damage to the flora, fauna and ecology of the Unesco World Heritage Site, which is also home to the Royal Bengal tiger. Also, Indian power secretary Pradeep Kumar Pujari along with senior officials is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka today to work on the modalities of the Indo-Bangla joint steering committee (JSC) on power. The 18-member committee, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas energy adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, will visit the project area by helicopter on Wednesday and then hold the JSC meeting at a local hotel, sources in the power ministry said. During the visit, the joint working group (JWG) on power will hold a meeting on some bilateral issues, and the JSC team will finalise the JWGs decisions, the sources added. According to power ministry insiders, the JSC will also discuss the setting up of a 1,125-MW hydropower plant at Monger Gola in Bhutan, and Bangladesh will seek a corridor to import some of the power through Assam in India. Import of 500 MW of power will also be discussed in the meeting, they added. In a related development, the state minister for power and energy held a meeting with environmentalists and economists to convince them about the Rampal project. However, the attendees were not convinced. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, executive director of the Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (BALA), told The Independent that the signing of the contract for the power plant would be suicidal. The consequences are unimaginable as the Sundarbans will be totally destroyed, Hasan added. Hamid, however, countered that the government had taken all necessary measures to safeguard the mangrove forest. A few months before BHEL submitted the USD 1.2-billion proposal to set up 2 x 660 MW coal-fired Rampal power plant, Japanese company Marubeni Corporation had asked USD 1.8 billion for the same project. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Indias NTPC had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2010 for building the Rampal power plant. The projected cost of the coal-based super critical power plant is Tk. 14,999 crore. Of that amount, the BPDB will provide Tk. 4,500 crore from its own funds. The rest of the money will be procured as a loan from Indias Exim Bank. The tentative completion date of the plant is June 2021.