Anisul Islam Noor :
Reliance Group, the leading business conglomerate of India, has proposed to invest one and a half billion US Dollar for generating 750 megawatt electricity for Bangladesh. For this, four power plants will be established here in two and a half years.
Satish Sheth, Vice- Chairman of the group, had a final discussion with Prime Minister’s Energy Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury on the issue in the PM office on Thursday. After the meeting, Tawfiq-e-Elahi told journalists that the national grid will get 750 mw electricity from the plants.
Under the project, Reliance Group has also proposed to set up four plants to generate in total 3000 mw electricity in four phases.
However, the government has agreed for two plants initially. And Reliance Group is ready to invest three billion US Dollar in these plants.
The energy advisor also said that Reliance Group would import liquid natural gas (LNG) at own costs for setting up the floated terminal. It is going to be the first ever LNG-based power plant. Moheshkhali and Meghnaghat are possible project sites.
Tawfiq-e-Elahi added that a technical committee had been formed to finalize the discussion and steps would be taken as per report.
A 4-member delegation of Reliance Group flew to Dhaka on a chartered plane on Thursday and returned after the meeting as well.
To bolster bilateral energy ties, Bangladesh has suggested setting up of a thermal power plant through a joint venture in India, according a report of The Economic Times.
In this regard, Bangladesh has proposed that a coal block could be allocated to the joint venture entity while power generated from the plant could be supplied to Bangladesh.
The proposed plant would be on the lines of 1,320 MW thermal project in Rampal jointly developed by NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) in the neighbouring country
“We have proposed if we are given a coal block (by the Indian government) in India, then we could develop a power plant through a joint venture, in the same way, as we are doing at Rampal,” Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Energy Adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The proposal was discussed during Taufoiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury’s meeting with Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal in India last week.
According to the energy adviser, India is very positive about the proposal. Bangladesh, which is looking to increase its electricity supplies in order to meet rising demand, has an installed capacity of around 13,000 MW.
When asked about the progress of the 1,320 MW Rampal plant, he said that the first 660 MW unit would likely be ready in four years time.
Project activities at the site have already been started. The project is being implemented by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Pvt Ltd, an equal joint venture between NTPC and BPDB.
Besides, India is supplying about 500 MW of electricity to Bangladesh and plans are on to increase the same to 1,000 MW.
Gradually the investiment of Reliance would be US$ 3 billion from US$1.5 billion, according to officials.
