A Russian company has shown interest in investing in Bangladesh’s energy sector including the out of sorts Khulna Thermal Power Plant, for which the government has failed to find an investor.
The Inter Rao Ues, a diversified energy holding company headquartered in Moscow, wants to take part in the reconstruction of the existing power plants including the one in Khulna.
Recently, a member of the company’s board of management wrote to Bangladesh Ambassador in Moscow, SM Saiful Islam, expressing the interest. The letter was then forwarded to Bangladesh’s Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed.
According to Power Division officials, the 210MW Khulna Thermal Power Plant needs overhauling several times a year. Over the years, the government has floated a number of tenders but failed to appoint any contractor for revamping the plant.
In 2008, a Chinese power company offered to upgrade the plant into a 300MW facility with its own credit, but that deal did not work out eventually, officials said.
The letter reads: “We would like to emphasise our intention to contribute to the energy development of Bangladesh by participating in the reconstruction of the existing power stations as well as to construct new generation assets.
“In this view, it is informed that the project ‘Reconstruction of 210MW Khulna Thermal Power Plant’ [including the existing obsolete power units] by providing combine cycle power plant is under consideration by LLC INTER RAO-Engineering.
“As you are aware as on date seven units with the total capacity of 1.1GW constructed under technical and financial support of the Russian Federation are being used securing reliable and uninterrupted energy supply.
“We trust that mentioned project could be executed on the same basis under the concessional loan of the Russian Federation.
“In the meeting with Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Nasrul Hamid, we have already discussed the matter regarding participating in restructuring Khulna Thermal Power Plant,” the letter reads.
Inter RAO operates a total of 5,965MW of international generation capacity in the seven countries including Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova and Turkey.
