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Rosatom, the contractor of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, dismissed the notion of potential delays in the construction of the project amid Russia’s war on Ukraine even though some Russian banks might be excluded from the SWIFT messaging system.
“No disruption is foreseen in any of the commitments and work schedules in the construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant,” the state atomiс energy corporation said in a statement yesterday.
In retribution to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the EU, the US, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Britain recently agreed to ensure that selected Russian banks are removed from SWIFT to harm their ability to operate globally.
Contacted, a managing director of a private bank said any sanctions imposed by the western nations will create complexities in running the business between Bangladesh and Russia.
However, an official of the Economic Relations Division said there is no possibility of the implementation of the power plant getting stuck as the fund is disbursed in Russia, from where the Russian contractors draw their bill.
In 2015, Rosatom and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission signed a general contract for constructing the plant, consisting of two power units with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts each.
The plant is expected to become operational from 2023, months ahead of the scheduled 2024 timeframe, said Shaukat Akbar, project director, in the last quarter of 2021.
Originally, the first unit of the nuclear power plant was scheduled to open by 2024 and the second unit by 2025.
The project cost is set at Tk 113,092 crore. Russia is providing Tk 91,040 crore as a loan while the rest is being financed by Bangladesh’s government.
The project implementation rate is about 44 per cent while Tk 47,609 crore, or 42.10 per cent of the cost, has been spent as of January 2022.
(TDS)
