The Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) is likely to sign a fourth deal this month with the Russian joint-stock company Atomstroyexport for pit foundation based on soil test at the country’s first nuclear power project in Pabna’s Rooppur.
“A Russian team will come on October 14 and negotiate about the deal,” Yeafesh Osman, state minister for the Ministry of Science and Technology, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
“We hope that we will sign the deal in the last week of this month,” he said.
The first phase of construction for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) will now require $50m more than the initial estimated cost of $500m, while the added 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 penned on June 27 last year for pre-construction works including feasibility evaluation, environment impact assessment, and development and engineering survey etc at the RNPP site.
The second deal worth $265m was signed on October 2 last year 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 $500m which Russia agreed to provide for financing the groundwork at Rooppur that will be run under the government-appointed Atomstroyexport, which will also run a series of 63 tests as part of the pre-construction work.
On June 5 this year, the third agreement was struck to construct different structural work in the Rooppur site involving $190m.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the groundwork of the 2,000MW plant in Pabna on October 2 last year.
Bangladesh in this regard signed a deal with Russia on January 14 last year during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Moscow, for the extension of state export credit to finance the preparatory stage work at the nuclear power plant.
