Indian, Bangladeshi firms ink MoUs worth over $9bn

Indian and Bangladeshi firms have signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) worth over $9bn designed to deepen co-operation in various sectors, including power, oil and gas.Among the major MoUs, Reliance Power executed project agreements with Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) for phase I of the 750MW liquefied natural gas (LNG) power project at Meghnaghat, near Dhaka, worth $1bn, out of a total proposed investment of $3bn.A facility agreement was signed between Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (BIFPCL) and Exim Bank of India for debt financing of $1.6bn for construction of the 1,320MW Maitree Power Project in Rampal in Bangladesh.The MoUs’ signing event here, also attended by visiting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was organised by industry chambers Ficci, CII and Assocham.Adani Power (Jharkhand) and the Bangladesh Power Development Board signed a deal entailing an investment of $2bn. Adani Power also signed a power purchase agreement and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh.State-run NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) and Bangladesh Power Development Board signed an agreement for supply of power from Nepal that envisages an investment of $3.15bn.Reliance Power has also signed an MoU with PetroBangla to set up a 500mn standard cubic ft per day LNG terminal at Kutubdia Island near Chittagong. The MoUs signed include those on LNG terminal use between India’s Petronet LNG and Petrobangla.Addressing the gathering earlier, Sheikh Hasina invited Indian businesses to invest in her country, assuring all facilities for business.Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said Indo-Bangla relations go beyond mere trade numbers and consists of “shared memories, experience and history”.