Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - Two Indian companies are set to invest $5.50 billion for setting up 4,600-megawatt (MW) power plants in Bangladesh.
The state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPWB) signed two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) in this connection with Indian companies Adani Power Limited and Reliance Group at the Bidyut Bhaban in the capital Dhaka on Saturday.
The deals were signed when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is paying his maiden trip to Bangladesh.
Under the deals, the Adani Power Limited will invest $2.5 billion to set up a coal-based power plant with capacity of 1,600MW power while the Reliance Group invest $3.0 billion to set up an imported Liquefied Natural Gas-based power plant in Bangladesh with capacity of 3,000MW power.
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power will use the equipment it had contracted for its Samalkot project in Andhra Pradesh for setting up the power plant in Bangladesh in three years from the date of signing power purchase agreement (PPA).
The equipment will be under appropriate warranties from General Electric (GE), USA and the other global suppliers, the company said in a statement.
It also said the company will invest US$ 3.0 billion in an integrated facility comprising of 3,000 MW of LNG based combined cycle power plant and LNG Terminal with a Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU).
The project will be developed in phases. The first phase is expected to be completed within 3 years of signing of PPA and securing all approvals and financing.
The BPDB shall provide land for the power project at appropriate locations.
The FSRU terminal shall be set up at Maheshkhali Island in Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh.
"The project can be set up quickly and can power the country's rising demand for electricity and will provide clean and green power," the company noted.
The project is in line with the Master Plan of 2010 for Bangladesh, under which BPDB envisages to develop a 3,000 MW LNG based power project so as to meet the growing power demand and supplement the domestic gas reserves in the country.