Ministry of Power

Secretary (Power) Govt of India meets Secretary

(Power) Govt of Bangladesh on the issues related to
1320MW Maitree Power project.

Posted On: 06 JUL 2021 7:49PM by PIB Delhi

Secretary (Power) Govt of India met Secretary (Power) Govt of Bangladesh today through video conferencing
for the issues related to 1320MW Maitree Power project. This meeting was convened shortly after the 8th
High Level Monitoring Committee meeting held on 17.06.2021 during which certain critical issues were
identified that required to be addressed for timely commissioning of unit#1 in December 2021.
The meeting was attended by senior officials including the officials from Ministry of Power (MoP), Ministry
of External Affairs (MEA), High Commissioner of India in Bangladesh, Department of Heavy Industries
(DHI), Central Electricity Authority (CEA), NTPC Ltd. BHEL and BIFPCL.
The COVID situation since March 2020 has presented enough challenges to the people of both the countries
and have affected the implementation of the Maitree project and both sides are putting the best effort to
complete the project in time. The Bangladesh side was assured that BHEL and BIFPCL are confident to meet
the timelines, with the support of Govt of Bangladesh in the matter of Entry Permission and VISA approvals
for Highly skilled ex-pat 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 & in offices in India
and Vaccination of work force.
The 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.
Secretary (Power), Govt 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.
Secretary (Power) Govt of India thanked the Bangladesh side and expressed gratitude for the support
committed by Secretary (Power) Govt of Bangladesh

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SS/KP
(Release ID: 1733185)