The finance ministry has asked the central bank to take necessary steps to provide more than $7.6 million for an instalment to the ICBC and Exim Bank of China under a buyer's credit syndicated loan agreement.
Under the agreement, more than $129.26 million was borrowed from the ICBC and Exim Bank of China.
Payment is to be made in 20 instalments. Sixteen instalments have already been paid and the next 17th instalment will be for over $7.6 million.
State-owned power generation company B-R Powergen Ltd and the ICBC and Exim Bank signed the loan deal for the Kodda 150 MW Dual Fuel power plant located in Gazipur.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) generally provides instalment funds to the private commercial Dhaka Bank for payment to the ICBC and Exim Bank.
Earlier, the ICBC and Exim Bank of China requested the state-owned B-R Powergen Ltd to make timely payments.
Under the signed deal, section 5.2 mentions that a default interest must be paid if instalment payments are not made on time.
During the deal signing, the Finance Division issued a sovereign guarantee in favour of the ICBC and Exim Bank of China.
Contacted, an official said, "So far, we have already taken necessary steps and implemented measures regarding the issue."
The Kodda plant has been supplying uninterrupted power to the national grid since 16 August 2015, the date of initial commercial operation, following the national demand of Bangladesh.
rezamumu@gmail.com