Rooppur power project seeks Tk 25,593cr cost hike

The cost of the Rooppur nuclear power plant is set to rise by Tk 25,593 crore, pushing the total outlay to Tk 138,685 crore and extending the completion deadline to 2028.

The revised proposal is expected to be placed before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council today, with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus will chair the meeting.

If approved, the first revision will lift the 2,400 MW project cost from Tk 113,092 crore, an increase of about 23 percent. The original deadline of the country’s first nuclear power project was December 31, 2025. 

The project was initially approved in 2016, with around 90 percent of the funding coming from a soft Russian loan.

According to Planning Commission documents, the cost escalation is driven mainly by higher allocation for project components, adding 10 new ones, and the depreciation of local currency taka against the US dollar.

As Bangladesh’s first nuclear project, limited prior experience led to an underestimation of costs related to maintenance, spare parts and advisory services, it said. 

The documents mention that the combined allocation for 38 components has been increased in the revised development project proposal, including expanded facilities at the residential bloc Green City. 

Besides, additional requirements emerged during the long implementation period, contributing to higher costs.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, the implementing agency of the nuclear power plant, also cited the sharp fall in the exchange rate from an original assumption of Tk 80 per dollar, alongside the exhaustion of allocations for advance payments, customs duty and value-added tax (VAT).

Delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war and international sanctions on some Russian banks have led to extensions of both the loan agreement and the construction timeline, it said.

“The dollar exchange rate was Tk 80 when the project began in 2016; it has now reached Tk 122.40. This shift is the primary driver behind the cost increase,” said Project Director Md Kabir Hossain.

He said that despite the higher overall cost, the project saved Tk 166 crore from the government exchequer. While expenditures increased in 34 components, allocations were reduced in 49 others.

FUEL LOADING AT UNIT-1 LIKELY IN FEB 

Of the two units at the plant, construction work at unit-1 was completed last year. However, the unit has not yet entered operation due to the incomplete technical testing process.

Following a recent site visit, senior government officials said fresh nuclear fuel loading for unit-1 is likely to begin in the last week of February this year, subject to the Russian side completing its final requirements.

“Our preparations for fuel loading are complete. The Russian side expects to begin loading at unit-1 in late February, and we are hopeful the plant will be ready within this timeframe,” Md Anwar Hossain, secretary at the Ministry of Science and Technology, told The Daily Star last week.

He said that after missing earlier schedules due to a lack of preparedness, fuel loading has now become the main focus to bring the country’s first nuclear power plant online.

Project officials said that if fuel loading starts in late February, a physical start-up could take place by April, with power generation possibly beginning by mid-year. The timeline, however, depends on the successful completion of critical tests and machinery inspections.

“It is delaying to complete all the tests as many complications are found out during the test period, and we are bound to solve those to reach the next period. In this way a huge amount of time is spent.” Hossain said.

Without completing the required tests and machinery preparation, the exact timing of fuel loading cannot be confirmed, he added.