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Dhaka Tuesday,  Mar 19, 2024

Nuclear Power Loan Agreement Has Been Signed

EB Report

Bangladesh has signed a credit agreement of about 11.38b USD with Russian Federation to build the much talked Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP); which in terms of the amount will be the single largest amount of foreign loan in the history of Bangladesh.

The deal signing ceremony held in the city of Moscow on Tuesday. According to the master plan, the construction of the RNPP is scheduled to begin in August 2017.

Sergei Anatolyevich Storchak, Deputy Minister of Finance, Russian Federation and Mohammad Mejbahuddin, Senior Secretary, Economic Relations Department, the government of Bangladesh signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides. The power plant will have two separate unit with a capacity of 1,200 MW each and the total estimated cost for building the first ever Nuclear Plant in Bangladesh is 12.65b USD. Russia and Bangladesh would invest in this project on a ratio of 90:10.

The very first unit (Ruppur 1) is expected to start its operation in 2021, which is also the 50th anniversary year of Bangladesh’s independence, claims the Science and Technology Minister Yafes Osman.  The second one (Ruppur 2) will be functional in 2023. According to the estimation, the cost of electricity is expected to be 3 Tk per Unit.

rooppur - Rosatom

Russia will provide the loan at an interest rate of six months Libor plus 1.75 percent per annum, but it will never cross over 4 percent. Bangladesh will pay off the loan within 28 years with a 10-year grace period. The very first instalment of this credit has to be paid on 15th March of 2027.

Among others, state minister for finance and planning MA Mannan, Bangladesh ambassador to Russia Saiful Hoque, ERD additional secretary Abul Mansur Md Faizullah, science and technology ministry additional secretary Md Anwar Hossain were also present at the agreement signing ceremony in Moscow.
The initiatives to install this first ever Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh were taken in the early 60’s. However, after facing a lot of ups and downs the project finally got a boost up in 2011 while the government signed a deal with Russian Federation. In 2013 the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the instalment process of this power plant in Ruppur, Pabna.

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