Adani will not stop power supply to Bangladesh even if there is arrears

Indian industrial group Adani Power will continue to supply electricity to Bangladesh even though it owes about Tk 10,000 crore due to political change and power supply. The country's financial and business media reported this information in a report on Friday (September 6). Moneycontrol.

An Adani Group source told the media that a request has been made to the interim government of Bangladesh for speedy payment of the dues. We have told Bangladesh that Adani Group is under pressure from investors to build power plants. Besides, Adani Group has expressed hope that all dues including late interest will be paid promptly.

Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has an agreement with Adani's 1,600 MW Godda power plant to be built in Jharkhand. Bangladesh has to pay 90 to 100 million dollars to Adani Group for electricity supply every month. However, due to non-payment on time, Adani's debt to Bangladesh has exceeded 800 million dollars. Which is equal to about 10 thousand crores in Bangladesh money.

In 2017, BPDC signed a 25-year contract with Adani Power. According to the agreement, Bangladesh will get 1 thousand 496 megawatts of electricity from Godda power plant. Which is 10 percent of the total demand in Bangladesh at peak power demand. All electricity from Adani's Godda power plant, built at a cost of $2 billion, comes to Bangladesh.

The power plant started generating electricity in June 2023 and they started supplying electricity to Bangladesh from that month. Apart from power supply, Adani also has edible oil refineries and rice processing plants in Bangladesh.

According to the agreement, Bangladesh pays the power supply owed to the Adani Group in US dollars. But on August 23, US media Bloomberg reported that Bangladesh's foreign exchange reserves had dropped to 20.5 billion dollars. With which three months of import expenses can be met.

The report also said that Bangladesh's interim government is trying to get more loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Dhaka has already taken a loan of 4.7 billion dollars from the company.

Meanwhile, the Indian government has changed its power policy due to fears that Bangladesh will stop buying electricity from Adani. It is said that the power plants which are built only to export power abroad can also provide power to the local market if they want.

Bangladesh /FM