TDS Desk:

The government has approved a Tk 255.92 billion increase in cost of the the Rooppur nuclear power plant construction project at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).

The entire cost increase will be met from project loans. As a result, the cost of the project has increased from around Tk 1.14 trillion to Tk 1.39 trillion.

The approval was provided at an ECNEC meeting chaired by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus on Sunday.

Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant is being built in Pabna’s Rooppur with Russian assistance. The two units at the plant are to generate 1,200MW and 2,400MW of power.

The government was to finance 10 percent of the project’s construction cost while the remaining 90 percent is provided as a loan by Russia.

However, the amount the government is financing has also been reduced at the ECNEC meeting.

As a result of the revised approval, the government’s financing has been cut from Tk 220.52 billion to Tk 218.86 billion – a difference of Tk 1.66 billion.

The decrease will be made up for through loan funding.

The power plant’s term will be 60 years, with the option for it to be extended for another 20 years at a later time.

Then prime minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation of the power plant in October, 2013. In November 2017, she inaugurated the concrete casting work of the reactor and water-cooling dome of the first unit.

Although one unit was supposed to come into production in early 2021, it was postponed due to the complications relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, the project work was further deferred due to various complications, including the Ukraine war.

The revised approval has set the completion date for June 2028.