$324m JBIC loan for Haripur power plant, 2 other projects

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FE Report
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) is set to provide soft loan amounting to US$ 324 million to the government to implement three separate projects including installation of a 360 megawatts (MW) power plant at Haripur.
Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh Masayuki Inoue and Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary M Aminul Islam Bhuiyan will sign an exchange of notes in the ERD office at Agargaon in the city today (Tuesday).
Apart from installation of the Haripur power plant the JBIC will provide funding for implementation Dhaka-Chittagong Railway Development Project and Small Scale Water Resources Development Project.
The interest rate for the loan is 0.01 per cent per annum and the repayment period is 40 years inclusive of 10-year grace period for the three loans.
Of the total amount, the JBIC will provide around $145 million, amounting to Tk 11 billion for installation of the 360MW Haripur power plant.
The government will provide Tk 9 billion to install the power plant, which will cost Tk 20 billion in total.
The state-owned Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB) will implement installation of the 360 MW Haripur power plant, said a senior Power Division official.
He said the EGCB has already short-listed a number of consultants for preparing tender documents and evaluation and sent the list to the JBIC for selecting one.
The consultant will be appointed shortly after signing of the loan agreement.
Tender for the installation of the plant is expected by February 2008.
Electricity generation from the plant might come into operation by 2012 next.