Bangladesh-India assure each other of due support to complete Rampal power plant

Bangladesh and India today assured each other of necessary support for completion of the 1,320 MW Maitree power plant in Rampal in time.

Bangladesh Power Secretary conveyed the assurance of providing necessary support to his Indian counterpart during a meeting through video conferencing on the issues related to Rampal power project, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

The Bangladesh side was assured by India that Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited and Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Corporation Ltd are confident to meet the timelines of the Rampal power project with the support of Bangladesh government in the matter of entry permission and visa approvals for highly-skilled expat manpower from India, customs-related issues and imposition of advance income tax, court case against BHEL employees posted at Rampal power project site and in offices in India and Covid-19 vaccination of the workforce.

The meeting decided that the first unit of the Rampal power project would be commissioned in December this year coinciding with the golden jubilee celebration of the Victory Day of Bangladesh and the second unit is expected to be commissioned matching with the implementation of associated transmission system, a statement issued by the Indian Power Ministry said tonight.

Today's meeting was convened after the 8th high-level monitoring committee had met on June 17 during which certain critical issues were identified that required to be addressed for timely commissioning of the first unit of the Rampal project in December this year, an official statement issued in New Delhi said.

The meeting was attended by senior officials including the officials from Ministry of Power, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh, Department of Heavy Industries, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), NTPC Ltd. BHEL and BIFPCL.

The Covid-19 situation since March last year affected the implementation of the Rampal project and both sides are putting the best effort to complete the project in time, the statement said while terming it as an "environmentally-friendly supercritical technology based thermal power plant."

In today's meeting, both sides also decided to hold the next meeting of the next Joint Working Group for India-Bangladesh cooperation in power sector in the third week of September this year.

The Indian Power Secretary thanked the Bangladesh side and expressed gratitude for the support committed by the Secretary (Power) Govt of Bangladesh.