The country’s first ever Nuclear Power Plant Company Bangladesh Ltd is set to start functioning from today through its first board meeting to develop the 2,000 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
“The meeting of the Nuclear Company will be chaired by Science and Technology Secretary Sirajul Islam at Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) headquarters in Agargaon,” first Managing Director of the company Mohammad Shawkat Akbar told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
BAEC under the Ministry of Science and Technology would own the company.
Shawkat said the new company has recently registered with the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
He said the company would start functioning by setting up a new office in Dhaka and preparing an organogram to start manpower recruitment.
On July 13, 2015, the cabinet approved the draft Nuclear Power Plant Ordinance, 2015 in order to ensure the proper establishment and operation of the country’s nuclear power plants, including the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
According to the law, the company will have a board with the secretary for science and technology as its chairman and the chairman of the BAEC as its director.
The previous project director of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant project will be the first managing director of nuclear company.
The board will have a minimum of seven and maximum of 12 directors who will be appointed by the government.
“The Ministry of Science and Technology has already appointed 11 members as board directors,” Acting Secretary for Science and Technology Sirajul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The 11-member company board will include Power Development Board Chairman Khandker Maksudul Hasan, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Abdul Matlub Ahmad while the rest will be taken from different ministries and organisations.
He said the Rooppur project would be implemented with financial and technical support from the Russian government.
Bangladesh plans to produce 1,000MW of electricity by 2021 and another 1,000MW by 2022 from the Rooppur plant. The plant’s tenure is 60 years with the option to extend it by another 20 years.
In April 2013, the executive committee of the National Economic Council approved the establishment of the first phase of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project. The project site in Pakshi union, Pabna, sits on 105 hectares of land.
The initial project duration is from March 2013 to June 2017. The plant is scheduled to go into operation by 2021 involving Tk5,087.81cr, including project aid of Tk4,000cr from the Russian government.
