Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) is to sign the fourth deal at a cost of $45 million next week with Russian joint-stock company JSC Atomstroyexport for completion of the preparatory stage work of the country’s first nuclear power project in Pabna’s Rooppur.
“We hope that we will sign the deal in the second week of this month,” Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) Project Director Mohammad Shawkat Akbar told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The main work of the fourth contract includes concrete mixing building 1 and 2, canteen, workshop, establishment of goods loading and unloading operations on river bank, external inventory and external electricity system.
On January 15, 2013 during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Moscow, a deal was signed with Russia for the extension of state export credit to finance the preparatory stage work at the plant.
The government signed three deals, worth $500m, with Russian nuclear equipment and service firm JSC Atomstroyexport to do the preparatory construction work for the plant.
The first phase of construction will now require $50m more than the initially estimated cost of $500m, and the extra amount will be covered under the new deal.
The BAEC, under the Science and Technology Ministry, will implement the project.
The first deal with Atomstroyexport worth $45.9m was signed on June 27, 2013 for the pre-construction work including feasibility evaluation, environment impact assessment, and development and engineering survey at the RNPP site.
The second contract worth $265m was signed on October 2, 2013 for the preparatory stage work of the RNPP, including the development of design documentation, first priority working documentation and engineering survey for the design stage.
The two deals were part of a total of $500m which Russia agreed to provide for financing the groundwork at the plant that will be run under Atomstroyexport, which will also run a series of 63 tests as part of the pre-construction work.
On June 5, 2014, the third agreement involving $190m was struck to construct different structural work at the RNPP site.
Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the groundwork of the 2,000MW plant in Rooppur on October 2 last year.
