10:20 PM
Bangladesh on Sunday signed a $177 million additional financing agreement with International Development Association (IDA) to complete the ongoing construction of a 335-megawatt combined cycle power plant in Siddhirganj, near Dhaka city. The power plant will account for 6.0 per cent of the total electricity delivered to the national grid.
IDA is the World Bank (WB)’s concessional arm that helps the world’s poorest countries. The additional financing to the Siddhirganj Power Project will help increase clean, reliable and low-cost electricity supply in Bangladesh. In 2008, WB provided $350 million to construct a 300-megawatt gas turbine power plant in Siddhirganj. In the face of increasing power demand and gas shortages, the government decided to convert the peaking power plant to an energy-efficient 335-megawatt combined cycle power plant. The additional financing will fill the financing gap for constructing the power plant. The combined cycle technology allows the plant to produce higher energy with lower gas consumption. This cleaner technology reduces carbon emissions. The plant will start commercial operation in 2016. In addition to financing the construction of the power plant, the project will also help strengthen the institutional capacity of the three implementing agencies: Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh (EGCB), and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB). The agreement was signed by Kazi Shofiqul Azam and Iffath Sharif, on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh and World Bank respectively at the Economic Relations Division. The credit from IDA has a 38-year term, including a six-year grace period, and a service charge of 0.75 per cent, according to BSS.
FE
No comments
Post a Comment