Indian Power Secretary meets Bangladesh Power official over 1320 MW Maitree project

New Delhi [India], July 6 (ANI): Secretary from Power Ministry of India on Tuesday discussed with his Bangladesh counterpart issues related to 1320 MW Maitree Power project, which was affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virtual meeting convened shortly after the 8th High-Level Monitoring Committee meeting held on June 17 during which certain critical issues were identified that required to be addressed for timely commissioning of unit 1 in December 2021, said a statement issued by the Indian Power Ministry.

The COVID-19 situation since March 2020 has presented enough challenges to the people of both countries and have affected the implementation of the Maitree project and both sides are putting their best effort to complete the project in time.

Bangladesh counterpart was assured that Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Ltd (BIFPCL) are confident to meet the timelines, with the support of Bangladesh in the matter of Entry Permission and Visa approvals for highly skilled expat manpower from India, Customs related Issues / Imposition of Advance Income Tax (AIT) after latest SRO 126, Court Case against BHEL employees posted at Maitree Site and in offices in India and Vaccination of workforce.

Maitree Power project is an environmentally friendly supercritical technology-based thermal power plant, and the first unit of this project would be commissioned in December’2021 i.e. coinciding with Golden Jubilee celebration of Victory Day of Bangladesh and Unit 2 is expected to be commissioned matching with the implementation of associated transmission system, the statement added.

Secretary (Power) of Bangladesh assured of the necessary support for completion of the project in time and appreciated the progress made by the project so far, despite the COVID constraints since last year.

Both sides also discussed about the date of the meeting of the next JWG /JSC for the India-Bangladesh Cooperation in Power Sector. It has been decided to hold JWG/JSC meeting in the 3rd week of September 2021. (ANI)