The 1320mw Maitree Super Thermal Power Station is expected to be inaugurated during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s three-day visit to India in the first week of September. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina together with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will jointly inaugurate the power plant, reports The Hindustan Times on Sunday. While PM Hasina is expected to visit India any time between September 5 and 7 and stay for two to three days, the visit has been accorded utmost importance by the Modi government as Dhaka happens to be one of India’s closest allies. Read: 12th bi-annual CSO meeting: Foreign secretary highlights implementation of IORDA-DDI Considered to be Bangladesh’s largest power plant, the coal-fired station is being set up by Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited, a 50:50 joint venture between India’s NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board. The project is worth US$ 1.5 billion. Meanwhile, trial runs between Kolkata-Chattogram-Mongla ports for India Bangladesh trade will begin posting a new chapter in the bilateral ties. The first vessel from Kolkata is expected to reach Mongla, on Pashur River, on August 5 carrying 16 tons of iron pipes in a container with destination Meghalaya using the Tamabil-Dwaki border points and 8.5 tons of pre-foam in another container for Assam using the Birbirbazaar-Srimantpur border points. This exercise will create cheaper and alternative routes for India to reach its North-East region while at the same time carrying export-import containers for Bangladesh.

The first unit of 1320MW Maitree Power project in Rampal will be commissioned in December next, coinciding with the Golden Jubilee celebration of Bangladesh’s Victory Day. The second unit of the project is expected to be commissioned matching with the implementation of the associated transmission system. The project is an environmentally friendly supercritical technology-based thermal power plant, said the Press Information Bureau of India on Tuesday.  READ: Nat’l Committee demands public health safety, cancellation of Rampal, Rooppur projects Secretary (Power), government of India, met Secretary (Power), Bangladesh on Tuesday through videoconferencing to discuss the issues related to 1320MW Maitree Power project.  This meeting was convened shortly after the 8th high-level monitoring committee meeting held on June 17 during which certain critical issues were identified that required to be addressed for the timely commissioning of unit number 1 in December next. The meeting was attended by senior officials, including the officials from Ministry of Power (MoP), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh, Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), Central Electricity Authority (CEA), NTPC Ltd. BHEL and BIFPCL.  Read: Rampal project anti-constitutional: Sultana Kamal The Covid situation since March 2020 has presented enough challenges to the people of both the countries and have affected the implementation of the Maitree project, and both sides are putting in their best efforts to complete the project in time.  The Bangladesh side was assured that BHEL and BIFPCL are confident to meet the timelines, with support from the government of Bangladesh regarding the entry permission and Visa approvals for the highly-skilled expat manpower from India, customs related issues/imposition of advance income tax (AIT) after latest SRO 126, court case against BHEL employees posted at Maitree site & in offices in India and vaccination of the workforce. Secretary (Power) of Bangladesh assured of the necessary support for completion of the project in time and appreciated the progress made by the project so far, despite the COVID constraints since last year. READ: PGCB moves to transmit power from Payra, Rampal to Dhaka Both sides also discussed the date of the meeting of the next JWG/JSC for the India-Bangladesh Cooperation in power sector. It has been decided to hold the JWG/JSC meeting in the 3rd week of September 2021. The Indian power secretary thanked the Bangladesh side, and expressed gratitude for the support committed by his Bangladesh counterpart.