ADB to provide Bangladesh with $500 mln loan for power plant

An Asian Development Bank (ADB) official on Wednesday says the bank will provide Bangladesh with a $500 million loan to set up an 800 megawatt (MW) power plant in the south western region of Khulna, according to Reuters.

The plant which is operating on the latest technology, will help meet the south Asian country’s growing demand for clean energy, said Gobinda Bar, ADB’s spokesman in Dhaka.

The total cost of the project is $1.14 billion, with the Islamic Development Bank contributing $300 million in financing and the government contributing $338.5 million over and above the ADB loan.

Peak demand in Bangladesh, which faces recurring power generation shortages, is estimated at 10,400 MW while available capacity in 2017 was 9,479 MW, officials from the country’s power and energy sector said.

Net peak demand is expected to exceed 13,300 MW by 2020 and 19,900 MW by 2025, while existing generation facilities will gradually retire and need replacement, they said.

“By providing additional electricity supply to about 300,000 consumers, the plant will stimulate business expansion and create new job opportunities,” said ADB Energy Specialist Aziz Yusupov.

The plant, due to be completed by end-June 2022, will use the most advanced water treatment processes to purify and recycle liquid waste, leaving zero discharge.

So far, ADB has provided around $5 billion in loans to Bangladesh’s energy sector.