Anisul Islam Noor :Bangladesh Power development Board (BPDB) has signed deals with the India’s Reliance Group and the Adani Group for generating to 4,600 megawatts of electricity to ease the country’s prolonged power crisis.The government on Saturday signed two ‘unsolicited’ deals to set up coal-fired and LNG-based power plants in Bangladesh.The combined value of the deals is $5.5 billion, including Reliance’s $3 billion investment-the largest one-off foreign direct investment in Bangladesh. As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Adani, the Indian business group will build a 1,600MW ultra super critical coal-based power plant on the Moheshkhali island, or some other suitable location in Bangladesh. electricity from them for indefinite period. However, nothing was mentioned in the papers provided to reporters about the price the government will have to pay. State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid said, the government signed the deals with the two Indian companies on the basis of “Speedy Supply of Power and Energy (Special Provision) Act”, which allows such unsolicited agreement without any competition or tender process. The Adani Group currently generates 11,000 MW in India and abroad, while Reliance produces 5,000 MW power in India.With Power Secretary Monwar Islam in the chair, the function at the Mukti Hall of the Bidyut Bhaban in the city was also addressed by Energy Secretary Abu Bakr Siddique, BPDB Chairman Shahinul Islam Khan, Adani Group official Raja Hasnain, and Reliance Group official Sameer Gupta.He mentioned Bangladesh and other neighboring countries like India, Nepal and Bhutan are trying to develop their power sectors to improve trade and cooperation with each other.”If we want electricity from Nepal and Bhutan, it will require Indian help,” said the minister. He urged the Indian conglomerates to move forward in an expedited manner to implement their projects.Ealier on Friday, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali told journalists on Friday that Bangladesh also planned to generate more than double of its electricity imports from India to 11,000 MW by 2017 from 5,000 MW now.Indian Reliance Group was lobbying hard with the government to sign a MoU during Narendra Modi’s visit to let it relocate a three-year-old massive power plant from South India to Bangladesh. But now, the government has signed deals with Reliance to set up a 3,000 megawatt (MW) power plant to be fuelled by imported Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) at an unspecified location. The MoU has not been about relocating the old South Indian plant, which Reliance had been asking for last one year. “We are not interested in any old power plant. Thus the MoU with Reliance has not mentioned where the LNG-based power plant would be built,” said Chairman of Power Development Board Shahinul Islam Khan.Bangladesh produces 7,000 MW of electricity but demand far exceeds supply, with a daily deficit of up to 1,500 MW.
