Calls grow to review deal with Adani Power amid cash crunch

The government urgently needs to review the deal with India's Adani Group, for the sake of the power sector in the current cash crunch, reports UNB.

Most officials of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) strongly believe this, noting that the government needs to pay $100 million every month to import electricity from the Adani power plant in Jharkhand.

"If the Adani deal is reviewed, and the tariff is reduced, the government can save upto 50 percent of the money it now pays to Adani," a senior BPDB official told UNB, requesting anonymity as the issue is highly sensitive.

The government signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in November 2017 with Adani Power under an unsolicited offer, to buy electricity from its 1600 MW power plant in Godda of Jharkhand. It started importing electricity from the plant in April 2023.

Besides the Adani plant, Bangladesh has also been importing about 1160 MW of electricity from India, of which about half is from the Indian private sector and the other half through the government arrangement. All are from coal-fired, or thermal power plants.

BPDB officials said currently this import costs about Tk 5.50 per unit (kilowatt hour) from Indian state-owned plants, Tk 8.50 per unit from Indian private sector while Adani's power costs about Tk 15 per unit.