Deals worth $5.5b inked with Reliance, Adani

Two memoranda of understanding (MoU) were signed with two Indian companies on the first half of the first day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to Bangladesh on Saturday. The government inked the deals with India’s Reliance Group and Adani Group, to set up coal-fired and LNG-based power plants in Bangladesh. The combined value of the deals is $5.5 billion, with Reliance’s $3 billion investment slated to become the largest one-off foreign direct investment in Bangladesh. As per a MoU signed with Adani, the Indian conglomerate will build a 1,600-megawatt (MW) coal-based power plant at Moheshkhali upazila in Cox’s Bazar district, or some other suitable location in Bangladesh. Under the other MoU signed with the Anil Ambani-controlled arm of the Reliance Group – India’s largest conglomerate that is split between the two sons of pioneering industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani – a 3,000-MW LNG-based power station and a floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) will be set up at a location which is again yet to be decided. On behalf of the government, Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) signed the preliminary contracts at Biddyut Bhaban in the morning, hardly one-and-half hour after of Modi’s arrival in Dhaka on a two-day state visit, according to a news agency.