BD, Japan ink $ 1.34b loan, grant deals to finance three projects

Bangladesh and Japan on Sunday signed three loans and grant agreements worth US$ 1.34 billion (144.814 billion yen) to finance three projects, including Matarbari coal power plant.

Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary Monowar Ahmed, Japanese ambassador in Dhaka Hiroyasu Izumi and chief representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Bangladesh Hitoshi Hirata signed the deals and exchanged the notes.

Japan will provide $ 1.31 billion for setting up of Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal-Fired Power Project (V), 1,258 million yen for a project named 'Densification of global navigation satellite system, continuously operating reference station network and the modernisation of tidal stations in Bangladesh', 429 million yen for a project titled 'Human resource development scholarship'.

Japan will charge 0.9 per cent interest for the project loan, which will have 10 years of grace period and will have to be repaid in 30 years.

The Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh will implement the Matarbari power plant - presently the costliest project in the country worth over $4.0 billion. Two units of the project will generate 1,200 megawatt of electricity.

The project is scheduled to be implemented by June 2024.

After the signing ceremony, the ERD secretary mentioned that Japan is the biggest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh. Since the independence, Japan has significant contribution to Bangladesh's socio-economic development, he said.

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