Officials from Russia and Bangladesh have commenced negotiations in Moscow over a nearly $11.4 billion loan for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project.
A high-powered Bangladesh delegation is now in the Russian capital to secure the terms of the state-to-state loan that is expected to meet 90 percent of the total cost of the 2400 MW nuclear power plant, slated at $12.65 billion. Bangladesh will bear the remaining 10 percent, or $1.265 billion, out of its own pocket.
Minister for Science and Technology Yeafesh Osman is leading the delegation. Accompanying him are Advisor to the Prime Minister on Economic Affairs Mashiur Rahman, Chairman of the Board of Investment S.A. Samad, Principal Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office M.A.K. Azad and other senior officials from different ministries and departments. Dr. S. M. Saiful Hoque, Bangladesh Ambassador to Russia, is also part of the negotiations. According to a message received in Dhaka, the delegation has a tight schedule to finalize different issues with their Russian counterparts, who are being led by Deputy CEO for International Relations of Rosatom
Nikolay Spasskiy. They will be discussing all the issues of cooperation for construction of the Rooppur NPP. The main focus was the tasks related to the entry into effect of the General Contract for construction of the NPP.
In particular, they discussed in detail matters concerning the conditions of issuance of the license on the plant construction site, the approval procedures of the Rooppur NPP and the technical assignment for the development of project documentation, as well as finishing approval of the remaining annexes to the General Contract.
If Dhaka and Moscow manage to reach an understanding on the credit, it will also be the single largest foreign loan in the history of Bangladesh. Official sources said the general contract that Dhaka signed with Moscow on December 25 last year is to build a 2400 MW nuclear power plant (having two units each with 1200 MW capacity) in Rooppur in the northern district of Pabna, will be effective soon after signing of credit agreement.
The international arm of Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom will build the plant, of which the first unit will come into operation in 2022 and the second one in 2023.
“Credit agreement is one of the most important deals relating to the project,” said an official at the Ministry of Science and Technology.
The general agreement between Dhaka and Moscow as it stands now is that 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 have 28 years to pay off the loan, as well as a 10-year grace period.
Bangladesh has already spent $551 million for preparatory work including engineering surveys of the site and designing the reactors.
