Indian firm gets export order for Rampal plant
India's state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has secured the export order for setting up of the controversial 1,320MW power plant in Rampal.
The Rs 10,000 crore ($1.5 billion) order, the largest for the company to date, took effect after the project developer issued the Notice To Proceed.
In a bid to assuage the concerns of environmentalists over the project near the ecologically-sensitive Sundarbans, the BHEL said in a statement on its website: “In order to meet stringent environmental norms, BHEL shall also install a state-of-the-art FGD plant and Dry bottom ash handling system.”
Civil society activists and environmentalists in Bangladesh have been protesting against the super thermal power plant, saying the coal-fired plant will harm the ecology of the world's largest mangrove forest.
The BHEL, a behemoth in India's public sector, won the contract against stiff international competitive bidding and this is the company's largest power project order abroad.
The order was issued by Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company (Pvt) Limited (BIFPCL), a 50:50 joint venture of National Thermal Power Corporation of India and Bangladesh Power Development Board.
The EXIM Bank of India will provide the loan, for which an agreement between the bank and the BIFPCL was signed in last month.
A facility agreement between the BIFPCL and the Exim Bank for financing the construction of the project was signed at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi in presence of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at a meeting of India-Bangladesh Business Forum on April 10.
BHEL's work in the project includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, construction, erection, testing and commissioning of two projects of 660MW each with ultra-supercritical parameters on turnkey basis, the BHEL said in a statement on its website.
It will also set up a jetty and a river water intake system.
“This prestigious order is a testimony to BHEL's proven technological excellence and also to its capability in executing power projects of this magnitude and complexity on turnkey basis. The order will also provide a fillip to the company's focus on globalization as a driver of future growth,” the statement said.
The key equipment for the project will be manufactured at BHEL's Trichy, Haridwar, Hyderabad, Ranipet, Bhopal, Bangalore and Jhansi plants while the company's power sector construction division will be responsible for construction and installation activities at site.
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