Anisul Islam Noor :Rooppur nuclear power will be more costlier for Bangladesh as Russia has refused to develop infrastructures for Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority (BAERA) under the credit agreement of $11.385 billion.Moscow will fund 90 per cent of the $12.65 billion project under supplier’s credit. The Bangladesh government will provide the remaining 10 per cent of the funding worth $1.265 billion.Dhaka expected that the $120 million fund would be included in the main credit deal of $11.385 billion, said official of the Ministry of Science and Technology, the responsible ministry for Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.Moscow would provide a $120 million fund for the infrastructural development of the authority under a separate credit deal, Science and Technology Minister Yeafesh Osman said.On May 19, Dhaka and Moscow initialed the $11. 385 billion credit agreement in the Russia’s capital for installation and commissioning of a two-unit nuclear power plant with 2,400MW capacity at Rooppur in Pabna.The minister said that the time for repayment of the credit had been extended by two years as Bangladesh would repay the credit with 1.75 per cent interest plus LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) in 30 years with a 10-year grace period.Earlier, the repayment schedule was proposed 28 years with a 10-year grace period. Besides installation and commissioning of the twin power plant, Russia’s state-run JSC Atomstroyexport and its subsidiaries will also transport the reactors and other equipments and machinery to the project site, said officials.Yeafesh said, ‘They will construct a jetty on the bank of the river Padma as most of the equipments and machinery will be transported by river.’Russia would train 1,950 manpower of Bangladesh for operation and maintenance of the first nuclear power plant, sources said. The manpower would be trained in seven phases by 2022, when the first unit of the twin power plant would come into operation and the second unit would come into operation in 2023, they said.Yeafesh lead the credit negotiation where Prime Minister’s Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister’s Office Md Abul Kalam Azad, Science and Technology Secretary Md Serajul Huq Khan and other officials were present.On December 25, 2015, Dhaka and Moscow inked the general contract for the project, the biggest project in the country in terms of investment. The state-run Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh Ltd, a subsidiary of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, will own and operate the power plant.Russia agreed to build the plant under an inter-governmental agreement signed in 2011, and agreed to provide $500 million in loan to finance preparatory work including engineering surveys.Bangladesh government also provided $55 million for the preparatory work and will repay the credit in 12 years.Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh Ltd estimated the cost of electricity between Tk 3 per unit (kilowatt-hour) and Tk 3.5 per unit considering a 50-year economic life of the power plant.
