Japan’s 33rd Loan Package and Grant Assistance signed today
Dhaka: 20 February 2013
Press Release
|
On February 20, 2013, H.E. Mr. Shiro Sadoshima, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh and Mr. Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of their governments, signed Exchange of Notes in Dhaka with regard to the 33rd ODA Loan Package and a Grant Assistance. Dr. Takao Toda, Chief Representative of JICA, and Mr. Md. Abul Kalam Azad also signed Loan Agreement and Grant Agreement in this regard in presence of H.E. Mr. Abul Maal A Muhith, the Hon’ble Finance Minister, H.E. Obaidul Quader, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Communication, Dr. Tawfiq-e- Elahi Chowdhury BB, Advisor to the Hon’ble Prime Miniser and Mr. Toshiyuki Kuroyanagi, vice president of JICA.
The 33rd ODA Loan Package will serve for financing Bheramara Combined Cycle Power Plant Development Project, Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (Ⅰ) and National Power Transmission Network Development Project, amounting to 70,693 million Yen (approx. 760 million USD). The concessionality of the loan is most generous with the interest rate at 0.01% per annum and 40-year repayment period with 10-year grace period. On the other hand, the Grant Assistance, amounting 728 million Yen (approx. 7.8 million USD), will serve to implement the “Project for the Ground Water investigation and Development of Deep Ground Water Source in Urban and Rural Areas”.
The summary of respective projects is as follows:
<33rd ODA Loan Package>
1. Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Development Project (I) – First Urban Rapid Transit
To overcome the serious and acute problem in Dhaka Metropolitan Area caused by rapid urbanization, the Project will construct the ground and elevated urban railway totaling 20.1km with 16 stations from Uttara North to Bangladesh Bank. This first MRT system in Bangladesh is aimed to cope with the growing traffic demand as well as to accelerate the modal shift from automobile to MRT system, thereby contributing to economic development and improvement of environment through alleviation of traffic congestion and reduction of exhaust fumes. It will carry 4.2mil passengers -kilometer/day and shorten the average travel time by more than half (around 36minutes).
The Loan up to 10,477 mil JPY for phase one will be appropriated to consulting services including, institutional development support to strengthen the capacity of newly born agency, Dhaka Mass Transit Co. The total project cost is estimated 220bil BDT for the largest ever infrastructure in Bangladesh.
2. Bheramara Combined Cycle Power Plant Development Project – Efficient Power Supply for West
To tackle the power supply-demand gap, which is more serious in the west, the construction of a large-scale power plant urgently needed a balanced economic development. The Project, to construct a new 360MW-class combined cycle power plant in Bheramara, Kushtia, will contribute to about 5% of total power generation in the country, and to climate change mitigation by 360,000 ton/year in terms of CO2 emissions through a high efficiency gas turbine generating unit. This project also covers SCADA system for gas network to ensure sustainable gas supply to the power sector and to enhance institutional capacity of North West Power Generation Co. Ltd for encouraging the power sector reform.
The Loan up to 41,480 million JPY will be applied for engineering, procurement, and construction for power plant, and consulting services. The detailed designing was already carried out by Engineering Services by a previous Yen Loan. The commencement of the Plant is scheduled in April, 2016.
3. National Power Transmission Network Development Project – Reliable Electricity to Industries
To respond to the surging power demand and the need for the stable transmission system, the Project will construct new 230/132kV substations and extension of transmission lines (132kV and 230kV) in all over the nation. The sub-stations are located in major urban areas such as Chittagong to aim for the improvement of reliability in power supply to industrial/commercial zones. It will reduce transmission loss to 2.65%, surpassing the average loss level in developed countries.
The Loan up to 18,736 million JPY will be appropriated to construction of substations, extension of transmission lines and consulting services. The executing agency is Power Grid Co. of Bangladesh and the completion is scheduled to be in February, 2017.
< Grant Assistance >
Project for the Ground Water investigation and Development of Deep Ground Water Source in Urban and Rural Areas – Safety Water for the People
According to the survey conducted by DPHE and JICA in 2009, there are approximately 19 million people who are denied of the access to safe drinking water in Bangladesh. This Grant Assistance project will address this problem by procuring necessary equipments, such as drilling rig, geophysical survey equipment and vehicles etc. as well as providing soft component (technical transfer) programs to the staff of DPHE for empowering their capacity. Through this project, 25 production wells in 9 District Paurashavas and 35 hand pump wells in 35 villages will be constructed and about 216 thousand people will directly receive benefit. The implementation period is 24 months.
During the signing ceremony, H.E Mr. Shiro Sadoshima expressed his heartiest congratulations to the Government of Bangladesh and hoped these projects would be implemented smoothly and effectively. He also hoped that the people of Bangladesh would get maximum benefits from these projects.
|
|
|
