Power production at Rampal Thermal Power Plant in Bagerhat district has been suspended since Friday night due to maintenance work. Syed Ekramullah, Managing Director of Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (BIFPCL), said the energy production at the power plant halted at 8:45 pm on Friday due to inspection and maintenance work. “We have suspended the production due to maintenance, inspection work and technical glitch from June 30 night and we’ll try to resume the production on June 4,5 or 6,” he said. 26,620 mts of coal for Rampal Power plant arrives at Mongla  Talking about the coal situation, Ekramullah said there is plenty of coal and a huge quantity of coal will arrive on June 5 by ship. The 1320 MW coal-fired power plant has been set up at a cost of approximately USD 2 billion and is located in Rampal, in the Bagerhat district under Khulna division of Bangladesh. Rampal electricity cost nearly doubles due to high coal price, increased dollar rate The Maitree Super Thermal Power Project was constructed under the Indian government’s concessional financing scheme. On September 6, 2022, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly unveiled unit-1 of the power plant. Dollar crisis casts a shadow over operation of Rampal coal-fired power plant

Payra Thermal Power Plant’s operations came to a complete halt at 12:05 pm today, with its second unit shutting down due to coal crisis. The shutdown of the power plant worsened an already severe load shedding situation in Dhaka city and elsewhere, according to BPDB officials. Earier, the other 660 MW unit of the power plant was closed on May 25. BPDB officials said due to the shutdown of the second unit of Payra power plant, the country’s load shedding has increased to 2675 MW at 12 pm today, which was 2287 MW on Sunday. It means the country had to experience 388 MW of added load shedding due to the closure of Payra power plant's operations, said an official of BPDB referring to the data of the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC). He said the country generated 12099 MW of electricity against a demand of 14900 at 12 pm today. NLDC’s evening forecast shows that the country’s demand will go up to 15800 MW when generation is expected to be 14,400 MW. Also Read: Coal shortage: Production at another unit of Payra power plant may suspend after June 2 However, officials said the country may experience more than 3500 MW of load shedding in the evening peak period The 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant is expected to resume operations on July 1 as the process of importing coal has already started through the opening of LC, said Shah Abdul Hasib, superintendent engineer (operation) at the plant. He said the shipment will arrive by June 25. “After the shipment of coal arrives, we will be able to resume the plant’s operation by July 1,” he said. He said opening LC takes some time due to the current global situation and dollar crisis. Payra power plant needs to import 3 lakh metric tonnes of coal every month to operate the plant in full capacity. Also Read: Operation of 1,320 MW coal-fired Payra power plant is likely to face closure over coal crisis The power plant has to spend about US$ 5-6 million every month to import the required coal. Payra power plant officials said the power plant is burning some 13,000 tonnes of coal a day. It has a 76.30-acre dumping zone where 25 years’ worth of by-products can be kept. The plant is currently importing coal from Indonesia. It has its own jetty, whose conveyor belts can unload 3,200 tonnes of coal every hour from four vessels at a time. After undergoing test runs for about five months, the first unit of the Payra power plant started commercial operation in May 2020. In October 2020, the second unit of the 660 MW plant, a joint venture of Bangladesh and China, started its commercial operation.  

Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt.) Limited (BIFPCL), a joint venture of Bangladesh Power Development Board and India's NTPC Limited, has released a recruitment circular. Under this institution, 12 people will be appointed in five category posts in Rampal project. Interested candidates should apply online. Job circulars in Rampal power plant in 2023 1. Post Name: Assistant Manager (HR/Admin) No. of Posts: 3 Eligibility: Must have a Master's Degree with Graduation in HR/Management/Public Administration from a recognized university or MBA (HR) degree in such subject. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 3.5 on a scale of 5 and CGPA 3.0 on a scale of 4. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Experience in related field will be preferred. Age: Maximum 30 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.52,000 Read more: Here's how you can apply for a Canadian work visa from Bangladesh 2. Post Name: Assistant Manager (Law) No. of Posts: 1 Qualification: Bachelor's Degree in Law from a recognized University. Master's Degree in Law will be preferred. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 3.5 on a scale of 5 and 3.0 on a scale of CGPA 4. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Experience in related field will be preferred. Age: Maximum 30 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.52,000 Read more: Job Circular in Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant 3. Post Name: Imam (Staff Level-3) No. of Posts: 1 Eligibility: Fazil or equivalent pass from recognized Madrasah/Institution. Must have Master's degree in Al-Fiqh and Legal Studies from any Aliya Madrasah, Kamil or Dawrae Hadith from any Qawmi Madrasah or any university. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 3.5 on a scale of 5 and 3.0 on a scale of CGPA 4. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Must have at least five years working experience as Imam/Mufti in a big institution/mosque. Preference will be given if Hafez-e Qur'an and Ilme Qiraat are certified. Age: Maximum 45 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.26,000 Read more: Jobs Circular in Dhaka Custom House 2023: Custom House, Dhaka will hire 48 posts 4. Post Name: Priest (Staff Level-3) No. of Posts: 1 Qualification: Graduation or equivalent from a recognized institution. Must have at least five years work experience as priest/scholar in any big institution/temple. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 3.5 on a scale of 5 and 3.0 on a scale of CGPA 4. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Kavyatirtha or any such certificate will be given preference. Age: Maximum 45 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.26,000 Read more: Recruitment Circular in Bangladesh Army 2023 5. Post Name: Security Supervisor (Staff Level-IV) No. of Posts: 6 Qualification: HSC or equivalent pass from recognized institution. Must have at least five years of work experience in the relevant field in a large organization. Third Class/Department is not acceptable at any level of education. GPA should be 2.0 on a scale of 5 and CGPA 4 on a scale of 2.25. Should be fluent in Bengali and English with good computer skills. Preference will be given to retired officers from Army/Navy/Air Force or BGB. Age: Maximum 45 years Work Place: Rampal Project Site, Bagerhat Basic Salary: TK.23,000 Benefits: Basic salary along with housing allowance, medical facility, bonus, provident fund, gratuity, other fringe benefits will be provided as per the organization policy. Type of Job: Initially three years contractual. The contract period is renewable upto the age of 60 years on the basis of satisfactory performance of the worker. Age limit: Upper age limit for departmental candidates is 35 years for posts No. 1 and 2. Upper age limit is relaxable up to 32 years in case of children and grandchildren of veer freedom fighters/martyred veer freedom fighters. Conditions: The persons appointed to the posts No. 1 and 2 have to sign the service bond to serve this organization for three years. Read more: Ausbildung in Germany for Non-EU Students including Bangladesh , How to apply in Rampal power plant jobs Interested candidates should apply by filling the form on this website (http://bifpcl.teletalk.com.bd/bifpcl_new/) . Detailed information regarding recruitment can be known in this link. (http://bifpcl.teletalk.com.bd/bifpcl_new/docs/BIFPCL_3rd_Advertisement.pdf)

Bangladesh has recently approved payment of USD $318 million for payment to Russia in the Chinese currency of yuan for construction of the Rooppur nuclear power plant.  A meeting held recently between the Economic Relations Division and Russian officials decided that the payment will be made in yuan at a Chinese bank account, Uttam Kumar Karmkar, head of the European affairs of Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Finance confirmed  to UNB. He said that the decision was taken to use the Chinese currency yuan for debt repayment at a meeting of the ERD last Thursday. Read more: Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project delayed by Russia-Ukraine War: Yeafesh Osman He said that although the decision has been taken to use Chinese currency to repay the loan, the transaction has not yet been completed. Payment details need to be clarified and resolved. Citing the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter, he declined to comment further. Dhaka's decision seems to have resolved the problem of making any payment to sanctions-hit Russia in the US dollar.  Read more: Return of Russian vessel carrying consignment for Rooppur won’t delay project work: Minister Last year, Western countries excluded Russia from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or SWIFT, one of the world's payment systems, due to its military invasion in Ukraine. The Rooppur nuclear power plant is being built in Bangladesh with a loan from Russia. But due to sanctions on Russia, it is not possible to pay in US dollars.  

It has become essential to form a separate entity to deal with matters related to importing coal for both public and private power plants in Bangladesh. Some recent scams in coal price fixing made it even more necessary in order to protect the interests of the state, as there are various allegations against the coal-fired power plant operators. Energy experts are of the view that only a separate and strong state agency can work effectively in this regard. Officials of the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) would also prefer a separate entity to be responsible for both import of coal and also work as a monitoring body to check any untoward practices in coal purchase for the power plants. Also Read: Top policymakers briefed about outcome of meeting with Adani on coal pricing: Sources “Since coal is a pass-through item in power generation and the BPDB has to ultimately pay the bills, there should be a state-owned entity which will import the coal directly and monitor the price of coal to be imported by any private power plant operator,” a top official of the organisation told UNB, preferring not to be named.         Supporting the idea of forming a state-owned separate entity for importing coal and supervising any coal import by the private sector, eminent energy expert Dr M Tamim said such a body for coal is essential for Bangladesh, just like the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) exists for hydrocarbons. “We can form a body like Coal Bangladesh like Coal India in our neighbouring nation,” he told UNB. He noted the reality that Bangladesh does not have any experience in coal import. Also Read: Adani Group starts discussion with Bangladesh to resolve issues on coal pricing So if any company manipulates coal prices through underhanded dealing with suppliers, it will be difficult to identify such unfair means for non-experienced officials, he added.   The coal price issue came into the forefront in recent days following the unearthing of the Indian Adani Group’s power purchase agreement (PPA) with the BPDB, and controversies surrounding the steep purchasing price for coal quoted to BPDB by Adani Power. Adani Power recently sent a request for BPDB to issue the demand note, where the coal price was quoted at $400 per metric ton (MT) - far above what BPDB officials believe it should be given the present state of the international market. “In our view, the coal price they have quoted ($400/MT) was excessive - it should be less than $250/MT, which is what we are paying for the imported coal at our other thermal power plants," the official said. They mentioned that the price of coal is coming down in the international market. Also Read: Committee to review existing deals on coal purchase for power generation To adjust the coal price,  the BPDB sought a revision to the PPA it signed with Adani Power Ltd for importing electricity from its 1600 MW thermal power plant in Jharkhand, India. Against the backdrop of a heated debate over the issue, the government formed a review committee, headed by Power Secretary Habibur Rahman, to analyse the existing deals signed by the public, private and joint venture power companies, including the one with Adani, to import coal for use in power generation. The 9-member high level committee was formed on January 23 and its first meeting was held on February 20. Besides the Power Secretary, the committee also includes the Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), additional secretary of Power Division (coordination), representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Ministry, and Commerce Ministry; the chief engineer (power generation) of BPDB, managing directors of the power generation companies, and the deputy secretary (development) of the Power Division, who will also act as member secretary of the committee. Read more: Rampal’s unit-1 to resume power generation Wednesday under 'test run' About the outcomes of the review committee meeting, Power Secretary Habibur Rahman said the committee needs to sit in more meetings. “It’s too early to give any substantial outcomes right at this moment…We need to hold more meetings”, he told UNB. Official sources said the review committee was formed following the report that Bangladesh will incur a financial loss of Tk 700 crore per month and Tk 8,400 crore annually due to the “faulty deal” signed with Adani Power to import electricity from its coal-fired 1600 MW Godda plant in Jharkhand state of India, first reported by UNB in January. The BPDB sent a letter to the Adani Group seeking a revision to the existing PPA following the request it received in relation to opening LCs (in India) to import the coal that will be used as fuel for the 1,600 MW plant in Jharkhand. Read More: Bashundhara Group wins bid to supply 8 million MT of coal to Rampal power plant The BPDB sent the letter date January 23 referring to State Minister-led delegation’s recent visit to the Adani plant mentioned, “During the discussion your side also opined that suitable mechanism will be devised to reduce this inconsistency of coal price by adjusting/changing the coal pricing mechanism of the power purchase agreement (PPA)”. BPDB officials alleged that the price of coal for the Patuakhali's Payra power plant was set at 15-16 percent higher than the market price in connivance with corrupt officials.    

Around some of their precious transformers — the ones that still work, buzzing with electricity — the power plant workers have built protective shields using giant concrete blocks, so they have a better chance of surviving the next Russian missile bombardment. Blasted out windows in the power plant's control room are patched up with chipboard and piled-up sandbags, so the operators who man the desks 24/7, keeping watch over gauges, screens, lights and knobs, are less at risk of being killed or injured by murderous shrapnel. “As long as there is equipment that can be repaired, we will work,” said the director of the plant that a team of Associated Press journalists got rare access to. The AP is not identifying the plant nor giving its location, because Ukrainian officials said such details could help Russian military planners. The plant’s director and his workers also refused to be identified with their full names, for the same reason. Because the plant can't function without them, the operators have readied armored vests and helmets to wear during the deadly hails of missiles, so they can stay at their posts and not join less essential workers in the bomb shelter. Each Russian aerial strike causes more damage, leaves more craters and more blast holes in the walls already pockmarked by explosions, and raises more questions about much longer Ukraine's energy workers will be able to keep homes powered, heated and lit in winter's subzero temperatures. Read more: Ukraine: Russia put rocket launchers at nuclear power plant And yet, against the odds and sometimes at the cost of their lives, they keep power flowing. They're holding battered plants together with bravery, dedication, ingenuity and dwindling stocks of spare parts. Each additional watt of electricity they manage to wring into the power grid defies Russian President Vladimir Putin's nearly 11-month invasion and his military's efforts to weaponize winter by plunging Ukrainians into the cold and dark. Power, in short, is hope in Ukraine and plant workers won't let hope die. In their minds, the plant is more than just a place where power is made. Over decades of caring for its innards of whirring turbines, thick cables and humming pipes, it's become something they have come to love and that they desperately want to keep alive. Seeing it slowly but systematically wounded by repeated Russian attacks is painful for them. “The station is like an organism, each organ in it has some significance. But too many organs are already damaged," said Oleh. He has worked at the plant for 23 years. “It hurts me so much to watch all this. This is inhuman stress. We carried this station in our arms like a child,” he said. Successive waves of Russian missile and exploding drone attacks since September have destroyed and damaged about half of Ukraine's energy system, the government says. Rolling power cuts have become the norm across the country, with tens of millions of people now getting by with only intermittent power, sometimes just a few hours each day. The bombardments have also forced Ukraine to stop exporting electricity to neighbors Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Poland and Moldova. Russia has said the strikes are aimed at weakening Ukraine's ability to defend itself. Western officials say the suffering the blackouts cause for civilians is a war crime. The plant that AP’s team visited has been struck repeatedly and heavily damaged. It still powers thousands of homes and industries, but its output is down significantly from pre-invasion levels, its workers say. All parts of the facility bear scars. Missile fragments are scattered around, left where they landed by workers too busy to clear up. Workers say their families send them off to their shifts with the words: “May God protect you.” Mykola survived one of the strikes. He started work at the plant 36 years ago, when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. “The windows flew out instantly, and dust began to pour from the ceiling,” he recalled. So he could immediately assess the damage, he put on his armored vest and helmet and ventured outside rather than taking cover in the bomb shelter. “We have no fear,” Mykola said. “We’re more scared for the equipment that is needed to provide light and heat.” Russian missile targeters seem to be learning as they go along, adapting their tactics to cause more damage, Oleh said. Missiles used to detonate at ground level, blasting out craters, but now they explode in the air, causing damage over wider areas. As soon as it's safe, the plant's repair teams scramble — a dispiriting cycle of destruction and rebirth. Read moreA:Ukraine's nuclear plant partly goes offline amid fighting  “The Russians are bombing and we are rebuilding, and they are bombing again and we are rebuilding. We really need help. We can’t handle it here by ourselves,” Oleh said. “We will restore it as long as we have something to repair it with.”

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said that all the liquid fuel-based power plants will be phased out within next two years. “We think, we can come out of all liquid fuel-fired power plants in next two years”, he told a seminar titled: “Energy Transition: Global Context" at Biduyt Bhaban in the city on Saturday. Such remarks from the state minister came against the backdrop of the nagging power and energy crisis in which operation of diesel-run plants already been suspended due to excessive price hike of the primary fuel. The function, organised by Forum for Energy Reporters Bangladesh (FERB), was also addressed by eminent energy experts Dr M Tamim and Dr Badrul Imam, senior energy secretary Mahbub Hossain, power secretary Habibur Rahman, Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) chairman Mahbubur Rahman and Power Cell director general Mohammad Hossain. FERB chairman Shamim Jahangir presided over the function while its executive director Rishan Nasrullah conducted the event. Read more: Uninterrupted power supply to be ensured through improvement in distribution: Nasrul Nasrul said initially 1000 MW diesel-fired power plants will be phased out in one year. He said three issues are being considered in dealing with energy transition in global context. These are technological advancement, providing energy at affordable price and at the fastest possible time. He mentioned that the government wants the private sector’s more involvement in energy business. That’s why import of all kind of energy products have now been open for private sector. “Private sector can import all kinds of liquid fuel as well as LNG alongside the LPG. They can set up their own establishment and supply to dealers for selling in petrol pumps”, Nasrul Hamid said. He also emphases on more use of electric vehicles (EV) replacing the existing diesel-run buses and other transports. “The public sector bus and train should come up first to use the EV as its energy efficiency is 80 percent while diesel-run vehicles efficient is only 20 percent”, he said. Making his presentation on “Energy Transition: Global Context" Dr Tamim said Bangladesh should not haste in decision making based on current crisis. Read more: Govt vigorously promoting renewable energy in power generation mix: Power Secretary He also said demand forecast based on sector wise bottom up growth projection on a 5-10 year time frame should be undertaken. He suggested for engaging a team of world class energy trading professionals to deal with future energy purchases and contracts mitigating risks. “The team should do a comprehensive world resource inflow and outflow analysis”, he added. Referring to IRENA’s recommendations, Dr Tamim said Bangladesh’s best path to reduce CO2 emission is efficiency improvement, putting emphasis on bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and renewables. He said that along with local supply (both gas and coal), we must secure steady and sustainable sourcing of primary energy by import – coal, gas, cross border electricity, nuclear fuel. “Every aspect of renewable energy and efficiency improvement should be vigorously encouraged, funded and supported by policy,” he said adding that solar rooftop, irrigation, parks in unused government acquired lands can easily achieve at least 5000 MW by 2030. “A separate study on energy and efficiency technology adaptation should be undertaken.and Immediate investment in grid upgradation and making highly trained independent System Operator is required”, he noted. Prof Badrul Imam said different studies, conducted by international firms, still show a huge prospects of local gas explorations. The government should utilise such prospective scopes to over cone the energy crisis. Energy secretary Mahbub Hossain said the government has taken steps to conduct 2D and 3D exploration across the country to acquire adequate data before inviting foreign companies to invest in gas exploration. He said under the ongoing programmes, there will be about 600 MMCFD added to the national grid by 2026. Power secretary Habibur Rahman said the government is trying to replace some 2000 diesel-run irrigation pumps with solar system. “But we have to face a huge challenge in this regard”, he added.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Oct 19, 2022) inaugurated the installation of the second and final reactor at the country's first Rooppur nuclear power plant. The reactor pressure vessel was installed at the second unit of the 2,400 MW Rooppur nuclear power plant (RNPP). She joined the programme virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban while it was held in Ishwardi of the northern district of Pabna. The country’s lone nuclear power plant, being constructed at Rooppur in Ishwardi at a total cost of US$ 12.65 billion, has two units with a power generation capacity of 1200 MW each. Read: Bridge cranes installed at Unit 2 of Rooppur NPP In October last year, the prime minister  inaugurated the reactor pressure vessel of the plant's first unit. According to the Rosatom, the Russian contractor of the project, the VVER-1200 reactor vessel passed the input control in accordance with all regulatory requirements before its installation Wednesday. Rosatom officials said the operation to install the VVER-1200 reactor vessel of the second power unit in the design position was carried out in several stages. A Liebherr-11350 heavy crawler crane lifted the reactor vessel onto the transport portal of the power unit. Read PM to open installation of reactor pressure vessel at Rooppur Power Plant's 2nd unit Wednesday Then, on a special transport trolley, it was moved to the central hall of the reactor compartment. Further, with the help of a polar crane, the reactor vessel was turned into a vertical position and installed on a support ring in the reactor shaft. According to the RNPP officials, the first unit of the project has already made 70 per cent progress in physical work, and with the installation of the reactor pressure vessel at the second unit the project will have overall 53 percent of physical work completed. “With the installation of the reactor pressure vessel, the project’s second unit’s physical work will achieve over 45 per cent of the target”, Dr Md Shawkat Akbar, the project director in the country’s biggest scheme in power generation, told UNB on Tuesday. Read Fourth Russian shipment for Rooppur arrives at Mongla Port The government undertook the project in 2009 and after a long discussion signed an $11.385 billion credit agreement with Russian Federation on July 26 in 2016 to implement the project through appointing the Russian state nuclear energy firm—Rosatom--as its contractor. In addition, on August 6, 2019, Bangladesh signed a nuclear fuel supply agreement with Russia for the project. Under the deal, the Russian state-owned nuclear fuel firm TVEL Joint Stock Company will supply nuclear fuel for the entire life span of the power plant. Read Rooppur NPP: Hydro-accumulators’ testing begins in Russia Each unit of the power plant will have to reload one-third of the total required nuclear fuel after every 18 months and the first, second and third reloads will be provided by the Russian firm free of cost. Each reloading of nuclear fuel will cost $62 million, equivalent to Tk 550 crore. Shawkat  informed that after the installation of the pressure vessel at the second unit, the major work that will remain unfinished include pre-operational testing and fuel loading. “We hope, we’ll perform these work by June next year”, he said adding, some more work will be required to be completed before commissioning the project. Read Manufacturing of hydro-accumulators of Rooppur NPP underway “Construction of power grid line and building of communication and security systems are among the important work required to be completed before mid 2024”, he said. The second half of the year 2024 is set to be the deadline to start commercial operation of the 1200 MW first unit of the nuclear power plant while the second unit in 2025, said  Shawkat, also managing director of the Nuclear Power Company Bangladesh Limited (NPCBL), a dedicated company to deal with nuclear power plant. Initially, a target was set to start the commercial operation of the first unit from 2022 and second unit from 2023 and then the target was deferred. Read Auxiliary reactor building construction at Rooppur unit-1 ends ahead of schedule Officials of the NPCBL said about 14,000 foreign workers from different western countries, including Russia and Belarus, are now engaged in the Rooppur nuclear power plant project under the contractor and its sub-contractors to execute different works.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today (September 6, 2022) said rising energy prices are presently posing a challenge to all developing countries and fruitful talks between Bangladesh and India are underway on connecting power transmission lines.  “The unveiling of the first unit of Maitree Thermal Power Plant today will increase the availability of affordable electricity in Bangladesh,” he said after his “extensive discussions” with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on bilateral, regional and international issues. The Indian PM said his country is the largest market in Asia for Bangladesh's exports and to further accelerate this growth, they will soon start discussions on the bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).  Read: Hasina, Modi jointly unveil Rampal Power Plant’s unit 1 The Indian PM said he had a “fruitful conversation” with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on enhancing cooperation in relation to flood mitigation. He said India has been sharing flood-related data with Bangladesh on a real-time basis and they have also extended the period of data sharing. There are 54 rivers that pass through the Indo-Bangladesh borders, and have been linked to the livelihood of the people of the two countries for centuries. Read: Dhaka, Delhi sign 7 MoUs; unveil projects “These rivers, folk tales about them, folk songs, have also been witness to our shared cultural heritage. Today, we have signed an important agreement on sharing water of the Kushiyara river. This will benefit southern Assam in India and Sylhet region in Bangladesh,” Modi said. In realizing the vision of a stable, prosperous and progressive Bangladesh that Bangabandhu had seen, Modi said, India will continue to walk step by step with Bangladesh. “Our conversation today was also an excellent opportunity to reiterate this core commitment.” “Today, we also stressed on cooperation against terrorism and radicalism. To keep the spirit of 1971 alive, it is also very important that we fight together against such forces, which want to attack our mutual trust,” he added. Read “Differences can be resolved through dialogue, Bangladesh-India do precisely that” Modi said Bangladesh has made remarkable progress under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In the last few years, he said, their mutual cooperation has also increased rapidly in every field. “Today, Bangladesh is India's largest development partner and our largest trade partner in the region.” Modi said their close cultural and people-to-people relations have also steadily grown. He said they both believe that by taking lessons from the COVID pandemic and recent global developments, they need to make the economies stronger. Read Cargo vessel carrying Indian transit container arrives in Chattogram port “We also decided to increase cooperation in sectors like IT, space and nuclear energy, which are of interest to our younger generations. We will also continue to cooperate on climate change and on preserving a common heritage like the Sundarbans,” Modi said. He said the inauguration of the railway bridge over the Rupsha River is a remarkable step towards enhancing connectivity. This bridge is an important part of the new railway line being built between Khulna and Mongla Port under India's Line of Credit. Modi said India will continue to extend all support for the development and expansion of Bangladesh's railway system. Read Dhaka to list Indian Oil as G2G supplier of refined petroleum products

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi today (September 6, 2022) jointly unveiled unit 1 of Maitree Super Thermal Power Project in Bagerhat’s Rampal. Constructed under India’s concessional financing scheme, the project will add 1320 MW to Bangladesh’s national grid. Earlier, Hasina and Modi witnessed signing of seven bilateral instruments after holding talks at Hyderabad House in India’s capital city. Read Chinese-Bangladeshi consortium, BPDB to sign deal for Mongla wind power plant The first unit of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant will go into commercial operation early October, in a major stride in growing Bangladesh-India power sector cooperation, an official told UNB. Unit 1 of the 1320 (2x660) MW coal-fired power plant in Rampal was successfully synchronized with the national grid on August 15. Once both units are commissioned, Rampal power plant will be one of the largest in Bangladesh, Subhash Chandra Pandey, project director of Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company (Pvt.) Limited, told UNB. Read Deal signed to set up waste-based power plant in Narayanganj Unit 2 of the power plant, also known as Rampal coal-fired power project, is expected to be commissioned early next year, he said. Rampal power plant is being set up at a cost of approximately US$ 2 billion and is located in the Bagerhat district of Khulna division, said an official describing the project features in detail. It is being built by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) for the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Private Ltd. (BIFPCL), a 50:50 joint venture company between India's National Thermal Power Company (NTPC) Ltd and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), said the officials. Read Inner containment construction of Nuke power plant (Unit-2) starts The project director said the Rampal power plant is being set up with super critical technology to actively mitigate environmental impact. Construction of an advanced ship un-loader for coal as well as a fully covered coal stock yard, along with use of high grade imported coal with low Ash and Sulphur content, among other measures, are in place, he said. On April 6, the 400 kV GIS switchyard and interconnecting transformer of the Rampal power plant was energized. Read A private producer to set up a 3 MW hybrid power plant at Monpura