Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma on Saturday visited the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant at Rampal, being built with funding from the Indian government’s concessional financing scheme with an outlay of about US$ 2 billion, reports UNB.
Majority of the amount is being provided by India’s EXIM Bank.
The plant uses ultra super critical technology and is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.
Phase-I of the 1320 MW power plant was inaugurated by the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and India in September 2022, has already started supplying electricity to the national grid of Bangladesh.
Phase-II of the project is expected to be completed shortly, officials said.
Energy cooperation is an “important component” of India-Bangladesh development partnership and the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant is a concrete manifestation of the deep-rooted friendship and cooperation between India and Bangladesh, said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
On February 3, the Indian high commissioner visited the Rupsha rail bridge which is expected to "boost trade and connectivity" for not only Bangladesh but also for the entire sub-region.
The bridge is being developed under the Indian government’s concessional line of credit (LOCs) extended to the Bangladesh government.
During his two-day visit to Khulna division on February 3-4, High Commissioner Pranay Verma will be visiting some of the important connectivity projects which are being developed under the Bangladesh-India development partnership.
The total length of the Rupsha bridge is over 5km and the cost of constructing the bridge is US$ 169.26 million.
The bridge has been constructed over the Rupsha river, and its construction was a challenging engineering feat as it required use of specialized technology for piling work, said the Indian High Commission in Dhaka on Friday night.
The bridge also has additional features for ensuring navigation safety and the navigational clearance is more than 18m from standard high-water level.
India is Bangladesh’s largest development partner in South Asia. The country has already committed LOCs worth nearly US$ 8 billion to Bangladesh.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
