Nuke Power Plant
Russia agrees to provide 85pc fund
Loan agreement by year end
Russia has agreed to provide as credit 85 percent of the estimated Tk 12,000-15,000 crore needed for setting up the first-ever nuclear power plant in Bangladesh.
It will initially provide $500 million (around Tk 4,000 crore) for conducting necessary studies and preparing the design for the 1,000 MW nuke plant.
This was agreed at a two-day meeting between Dhaka and Moscow on August 8-9 in the Russian capital, officials at the Science and Technology Ministry told The Daily Star yesterday.
An agreement providing for the loan is likely to be signed by the end of this year, and Bangladesh has asked for three percent interest on the loan, they said.
Referring to previous Russian loans, a senior official of the ministry said, “The rate of interest this time may finally be four percent.” He, however, preferred anonymity.
Bangladesh side at the talks in Moscow was led by the prime minister’s economic affairs adviser Moshiur Rahman.
State Minister for Science and Technology Ministry Yeafesh Osman, who was in the delegation, said Russia would submit a proposal regarding the loan agreement within a month. “I hope their proposal will be positive for us,” he told this correspondent.
Russian officials at the talks assured that Moscow would consider Dhaka’s proposal for a reduced interest rate, Osman said.
The Russian delegation asked for completing in two years all the 60 studies required for setting up the nuke plant, but Bangladesh would try to do so before that, Osman said.
Bangladesh has already conducted 12 studies, Russia will conduct 22 studies and then Bangladesh will do the remaining 26.
Dhaka and Moscow had earlier inked agreements under which the
latter would extend all kinds of assistance in setting up the nuke plant.
Construction of the plant at Rooppur in Pabna would take about five years.
Meanwhile, a conference on nuclear power plant will be held in Dhaka at the end of this year. Experts from home and abroad, including those from the International Energy Agency, and different stakeholders would participate in it.
-With The Daily Star input
