The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power (RPower) signed a partnership agreement with JERA of Japan for setting up a 750 MW, gas-based, combined cycle power project (phase-1) at Meghnaghat, Bangladesh.

RPower will hold 51% stake while JERA will hold 49% in the joint venture. “The project agreements for phase-1 were signed with the authorities in Bangladesh on Sunday,” said the company in a statement, adding that the project would be set up within 36 months of signing the agreements.

Reliance Power had signed an MoU during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Dhaka in June 2015 for setting up a 3,000-MW, gas-based, combined cycle power project in phases in Bangladesh.

Commenting on the deal, Anil Ambani, chairman, Reliance Group of Companies, said, “This joint venture project will give a tremendous boost to the economic and industrial growth of Bangladesh and will enhance the energy security of the country with clean, green and reliable LNG-based power. We are excited to be part of the growth story of Bangladesh in partnership with JERA.”

The project agreements include power purchase agreement and land lease agreement with BPDB for the power project, gas supply agreement with Titas Gas, a subsidiary of Petrobangla, for the supply of gas to the power project and implementation agreement with the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.

Satoshi Onoda, president, JERA, said, “It is our great honour to participate in the largest IPP in Bangladesh. Together with Reliance Power, a leading private power company in India, JERA will realise stable power supply and contribute to sustainable economic growth in Bangladesh.”

The project will represent the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the power sector in Bangladesh, and shall cater to the country’s rising needs for power, contributing to Bangladesh’s goal of energy security.

The transaction will result in debt reduction for Reliance Power of ₹835 crore ($116 million) payable to U.S.-Exim