RPower, Adani to invest $4.5 bn in Bangladesh

Separate MoUs signed to produce 4,600 megawatts of power

Two leading Indian power firms will build several plants in Bangladesh to produce up to 4,600 megawatts (mW) of electricity to ease the country’s prolonged power crisis, a senior official said on Saturday.

Reliance Power (RPower) and Adani Power signed separate memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) on Saturday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a two-day state visit.

“Reliance Power and BPDB has signed an MoU to develop four units of power plants to produce 3,000 mW of electricity with a cost of $3 billion,” the company said. The plants will burn natural gas.

Adani Power will set up two, coal-fired plants with a total capacity of 1,600 mW that will cost more than $1.5 billion.

Officials of the firms said it would take 13 months to complete construction of the plants after final agreements had been reached.

RPower will use the equipment it had contracted for its Samalkot project in Andhra Pradesh for setting up the power plant in Bangladesh. The equipment will be under appropriate warranties from General Electric (GE), USA, and other global suppliers, the company said in a statement.

RPower was implementing a 2,400-mW gas-based power project at Samalkot in Andhra Pradesh. The project was to be allocated gas from Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 block, but due to the drastic decline in production, it has not got any gas so far. The equipment for the project has been procured and is ready with the company. Use of these brand new equipment will put the implementation of Bangladesh project on fast track.

“Reliance is proposing to utilise these brand new equipment for the Samalkot project, including advanced class 9FA machines supplied by GE, for the proposed project at Bangladesh, under appropriate warranties from GE and other equipment suppliers. This will help set up the project on a fast-track basis,” it said.

The project is the largest foreign investment in Bangladesh with a potential investment of about $3 billion in phases,

The MoU was signed during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Dhaka. The land for the power project shall be provided by BPDB at appropriate locations and the FSRU terminal shall be set up at Maheshkhali Island in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, Reliance Power said. The Adani Power plant is also coming up on the same island.

Powering thy neighbour 

RPower, Adani aim to cash in on Bangladesh power crisis
The MoUs were signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka
RPower will develop four units of power plants to produce 3,000 mW of electricity with a cost of $3 billion
Adani Power will set up two, coal-fired plants with a total capacity of 1,600 mW costing over $1.5 billion