The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has sought no objection from the government of Bangladesh before lending $75 million to Summit Bibiyana Gas Power Project II from its non-sovereign operations, official sources said.
The ADB will give the loan for development of the project which is scheduled to start test run of simple-cycle operation this month, they added.
The economic relations division (ERD) recently sought opinion from the ministry of finance, and ministry of power, energy and mineral resources before giving no objection for the loan.
Deputy Director General of ADB Michael Barrow in a letter to the ERD said "the project will help alleviate Bangladesh's power shortage which is adversely impacting the country's economic growth and poverty reduction efforts".
"The project will also reduce Bangladesh's greenhouse gas emissions. The successful implementation of the project will foster confidence among potential investors and lenders and will promote further private sector investments in Bangladesh's energy sector," he wrote.
The Summit Group is implementing the gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Parkul village in Habiganj district. It has one gas turbine generator, one heat recovery steam generator and one steam turbine generator with a net capacity of generating 222 megawatt (MW) electricity from natural gas in simple-cycle operation and 341MW in combined-cycle operation.
Chief Executive Officer of Summit Bibiyana II Power Company Limited (SBIIPCL), SM Noor Uddin, told the FE Thursday that the loan is being taken from ADB for debt financing of the project.
He said after test run, the full-fledged simple-cycle operation of the plant will start in March next. That time 222 MW of electricity will be added to the national grid. On the other hand, some 341MW electricity will be added to the national greed once the combined-cycle operation starts.
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