Japan to provide $291m for three projects

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Japan under its new loan package Wednesday pledged to provide 291 million US dollars (Tk 2,000 crore) in loan assistance with nominal interest for three development projects of Bangladesh.
Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Masayuki Inoue formally apprised Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed of the Japanese pledge when he called on him at his office.
This would be the first such big amount of loan assistance by a development partner to the present caretaker government after it assumed power on January 12 this year, said an official.
The projects for which the soft loan would be utilised are New Haripur Power Plant's 360-MW Development Project Part I involving 144 million US dollars, Dhaka-Chittagong Railway Development Project with 104 million US dollars and Water Resources Development Project involving 43 million US dollars.
The repayment period for the loan assistance is 40 years with a grace period of 10 years with 0.01 percent interest per annum, according to the Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim who was present at the meeting.