Bangladesh and Malaysia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Monday for installation of 1,320 megawatts (mw) coal-fired power plant on 550 acres of land at Maheskhali in Cox's Bazar under joint venture.
As per the MoU, a consortium of Malaysian Tenega Nasional Berhad (TNB) and Powertek Barhad (PB) and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will set up a joint-venture company on a 50:50 equity basis.
BPDB Chairman Md Abduhu Ruhullah and Vice-president of TNB Dato' Ir Mohd Nazri Shahruddin and CEO of PB Dr Ir Ong Peng Su have signed the deal at a city hotel in the afternoon.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid and Special Envoy for Infrastructure to India and South Asia of Malaysia Dato' Seri Utama S Samy Vellu also signed on behalf of the governments of Bangladesh and Malaysia respectively.
According to the MoU, Bangladesh and Malaysia will finance 30 or 20 per cent of total project cost while the rest will be taken as loan from other sources. And the project cost will be finalised during feasibility study.
At the MoU signing ceremony, Malaysian High Commissioner in Bangladesh Madam Norlin Othman said both the parties reached the level of agreement after lots of negotiations and talks over the last several years.
"After the signing of the deal, we'll join our hands and proceed further to complete the project," she said mentioning good bilateral relations between the two countries.
The state minister said uninterrupted supply of power is very essential for sustainable development in any country.
"We need more power for ensuring such development. That's why, we're going to set up the coal-based power plant," he said terming the Government of Malaysia a consistent partner of Bangladesh.
Energy Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury described Bangladesh as one of the power-hungry countries of the world, saying that the government has taken a number of measures to overcome the problem.
"Hopefully, Bangladesh will get power from the plant soon," he said, adding that the power plant will have two units with equal production capacity and will be based on imported coal.
Speaking on the occasion, Dato' Seri Utama S Samy Vellu said Bangladesh demonstrated massive economic developments and managed to keep more than 6.0 per cent economic growth over the last several years.
Talking about the Malaysian state-owned TNB and PB, he said both of the entities have enough experience, expertise and strong financial base to assist Bangladesh for fulfilling her demand of electricity production.
While speaking as the chief guest, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said 50-50 partnership is unusual here, which in most cases follows 51-49 partnership in favour of Bangladesh in a joint venture.
"The Malaysian side approached us several years ago when power crisis took a serious turn here. Now power generation of the country has reached nearly 11,000 mws but we need more," he added.
Referring to the power sector master plan of 2010, he said the country will require 40,000 mws of electricity by 2030 and half of the production will come from coal.
Secretary of Power Division Monowar Islam also spoke at the event.
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