Anisul Islam Noor :Chief Minister of Indian Meghalaya state Dr Mukul Sangma has called for more investments in regional connectivity projects through Meghalaya to boost contact between North Bengal, Bhutan and Nepal from Bangladesh.He also called for investing in hydroelectricity, sustainable agriculture, including innovative use of bamboo, agar, spices and other cash crops; and tourism.Dr Mukul Sangma made the remarks while speaking at the two-day Bangladesh Investment and Policy Summit 2016 that concluded here on Monday.The Meghalaya Chief Minister also referred to the complementarities that exist between the economies of the North East of India and Bangladesh. Top bosses of Reliance Power Ltd and Adani Power Ltd made the investment pledges as the Bangladesh government laid out plans for tapping potentials of the two vitally important fields of the country’s growing economy that need huge funds. To materialise their investment portfolios, which include construction of power plants, LNG terminal, grid interconnection and port and other logistic facilities, they also demanded strong government backing especially for land acquisition, approval and clearances.Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and Vice-Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, India, Samir K Gupta made the announcements at the inaugural session of the two-day ‘Bangladesh Investment and Policy Summit 2016’ that began on Sunday.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally inaugurated the summit meet at Hotel Radisson Blu Water Garden in the city.Adani Power will set up two power plants-one in Bangladesh and another in India-for exclusive power supply to Bangladesh, with a capacity of 1,600 megawatts each.”These capacities will add to the current 12,000MW capacity of Bangladesh to significantly help mitigate power-supply shortages,” said Mr Gautam Adani.This plan would involve an investment of about 5 billion US dollars.In addition, Adani said, efforts are also underway for additional import of power from India through construction of a new grid interconnection on the western side of Bangladesh.These transmission inter-linkages between Bangladesh and India will ultimately add to a much-needed larger regional Power Trading System in South Asia.Building these infrastructures and logistic supports will also involve another amount of 3.2 billion dollars investment, said the Adani group chief.In absence of Reliance chief Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, the Group’s vice-president, Samir Gupta, made the announcement about its investment plan of $3.0 billion in the largest integrated LNG-based combined-cycle power plant in Bangladesh with a capacity of 3,000 MWs along with LNG facilities.Both the conglomerates signed separate deals with Bangladesh Power Development Board in June last to invest $5.5 billion to generate 4,600 megawatts of electricity. But, according to ministry sources, there is no visible development in implementation of their investment plans so far.”Inspired by the investment opportunities provided by the government of Bangladesh, we at Reliance Power have proposed to invest in integrated LNG-based power plant in Bangladesh alongwith LNG facilities,” said the Reliance vice-chairman.The project will be an important milestone in Bangladesh’s quest for energy security by delivering clean, green and reliable power and will create more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.Gautam Adani, Chairman and Founder of the Adani Group of Companies, focused on investing US$ 8 billion in power, ports and other infrastructure areas. He referred to plans of the group to invest in setting up a 1600 MW power plant in Bangladesh and another 1600 MW power plant in India for exclusive power supply to Bangladesh. Gautam Adani also spoke of using the Dhamra deep sea port in Orissa for bilateral trade with Bangladesh, including under the Coastal Shipping Agreement.Anil Ambani’s speech (delivered in his absence by Vice President Samir Gupta) mentioned that the Group proposed investing US$ 3 billion in setting up the largest integrated LNG-based combined cycle power plant in Bangladesh with a total capacity of 3000 MW along with LNG pre-gasification facilities.In organizing the summit the BoI is backed by Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), the Public-Private Partnership Authority of Bangladesh, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI), Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and the University of Dhaka.
