Bangladesh Cabinet approves loan agreement with Russia on Rooppur power plant

The Bangladesh government has given go-ahead to a loan agreement with Russia for setting up the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 27 June 2016, 03:12 PM
Updated : 27 June 2016, 04:24 PM

The Cabinet approved the draft agreement at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday.

After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam told reporters that Russia would offer $11.38 billion of the estimated project cost of $12.65 billion.

The repayment period will be 30 years with a 10-year grace period.

Bangladesh will have to start yearly repayments in March 2027, the cabinet secretary said.

The annual interest rate will be below 4 percent.

Shafiul said the agreement might be signed in July or August this year in Dhaka or Moscow.

The government expects the first unit of the plant, having a 50-year lifespan, to be commissioned in 2021.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the plant’s foundation stone in October 2013.

Parliament passed a bill in August 2014 to form the Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh, a unit under the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, to run the plant.