Bangladesh nuclear power project: L&T , others awarded construction contract
- The Rooppur power plant is being constructed by Russia and Bangladesh, with India helping with the infrastructure development for power evacuation facilities
NEW DELHI: Indian companies Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and Transrail Lighting Ltd are among those awarded contracts for the construction of power infrastructure related to the Rooppur nuclear power project in Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a recent visit to Dhaka to take take part in the 50-year celebrations of the nation's independence, with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina had green flagged the construction of five transmission lines at a cost of $ 442.11 million.
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“These have been awarded to companies of good repute such as M/s L&T and M/s Transrail Lighting Ltd," a person familiar with the development said.
The Rooppur power plant is being constructed by Russia and Bangladesh, with India helping with “the infrastructure development for power evacuation facilities," the person cited above said.
The pact for the 1,200 MW Rooppur plant was signed between the two countries in November 2011. Currently, the construction of the main buildings and structures of both the power units is underway, as per a statement from Rosatom, the Russian company involved in the construction of the plant. It involves two VVER units, each with a capacity of 1200 MW.
For this, India had committed concessional financing of $1.016 billion under a third Line of Credit worth $4.5 billion extended to Bangladesh in 2017 during a visit by Hasina to New Delhi.
“Indian Lines of Credit create market opening for Indian companies. India is very well placed to provide such services since Russia is already building similar power plants for India at Koodamkulam," said former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal. "A joint venture between Russia, Bangladesh and India reduces costs for Russia and Bangladesh and provides commercial opportunities for Indian companies in a strategic sector," he said.
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The five transmission lines are - the Aminbazar-Kaliakoir 400 kV double circuit line whose length is 51 kilometres, the Rooppur-Dhaka 400kV double circuit line which is 147 kilometres in length, the Rooppur-Gopalganj 400kV single circuit line which is 144 kilometres long, the Rooppur-Dhamrai 230kV double circuit line which will traverse a distance of 145 km and the Rooppur-Bogra 400kV single line which will be 102 kilometres long.
India’s collaboration in the power and energy sector in Bangladesh is not new.
India is supplying 1160 MW of power to Bangladesh through two existing interconnections.
"India and Bangladesh are also in talks for the construction of a 765kV power interconnection through Katihar in India via Parbotipur in Bangladesh to Bornagar in India, which when constructed, will reinforce interconnection of grids in the region," foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had said in a speech on energy cooperation in South Asia last month.
State-owned ONGC Videsh Limited and Oil India Limited have invested nearly $24.26 million in two shallow water blocks (the SS04 & SS09) in Bangladesh. India is constructing a “Friendship Pipeline" from Siliguri to Parbatipur in Bangladesh for supply of high speed diesel.
Modi and Hasina jointly inaugurated the project to import bulk LPG from Bangladesh in October 2019. “This project increases bilateral trade and ensures sustained and affordable supply of LPG to the North Eastern region of India, which is supplied from Chattogram by Bangladesh trucks to Tripura," Shringla said in his speech.
A proposal for supplying R-LNG (Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas) through cross-border pipeline and setting up of a LNG terminal are also being explored.
India was also working to promote the sub-region comprising Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and India as an energy hub" across conventional sources, hydropower, solar, wind or even petroleum products, Shringla had added.
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