Accord signing with Reliance before Hasina-Modi talks

The Power Development Board (PDB) has been asked to complete all necessary tasks for signing the final Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Indian Company Reliance Power Ltd (RPL) by November.
"All necessary tasks should be completed by this time as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will jointly declare the names of the projects in the Joint Communiqué which will be signed in the upcoming meeting of the two leaders at New Delhi," a senior official of the Power Division told the Daily Observer on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to visit India in early December.
Chairman of Reliance Group Anil Ambani visited Dhaka on Monday in this connection along with a technical team to discuss the issue with PDB and GTCL (Gas Transmission Company Ltd). They met PDB officials on Monday and with the GTCL on Tuesday.
At several meetings, Petrobangla officials said if the PDB allows the project than industries and consumers of Siddhirganj and the adjoining areas will face huge gas crisis. But the PDB authority allowed the company and later the Petrobangla endorsed the idea.
Now both the sides decided to use the GTCL's Hatyia-Anwara gas pipeline to bring LNG-Gas from Reliance's FSRU, they are yet to fix the gas price.
In the first phase, Reliance wishes to invest US$1.5 billion for generation of 750 MW LNG-based power plant in the country within two and a half years.  And in the second phase, Reliance will invest the same amount for LNG-based power plant.
Reliance, a subsidiary of the large Indian conglomerate owned by the Ambanis, made the proposal for implementing the huge mega project in the country's history after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June in 2015.
Initially, the government has allocated two places one at Moheshkhali and the other at Meghnaghat to set up the power plants. RP Group will also have a plan to build a floating LNG terminal and the Reliance itself will import LNG to feed the power plants.
Reliance has sought 40 acres of land at Meghnaghat to implement the 750 MW phase-1 Meghnaghat project. Earlier, RPL had sought approval for carrying out a feasibility study on the site of phase-1 of 750 MW LNG-fired power plant at Meghnaghat in Narayanganj.
Reliance wrote to the government asking for tax waiver in import, investment, salaries and at the share holder level.
Indian Reliance Power Ltd has proposed two separate tariff structures between Tk 7.99 and Tk 8.22 per unit for implementing LNG-based mega power plant having a capacity to generate 3,000 MW of electricity in three phases at Meghnaghat, Chittagong and Maheskhali.
Power sector experts said Reliance proposed power tariff is lower than MPC as the LNG price has come down in the international market last year.
In 2014, a consortium of Meika Power Ltd (MPC)-Bangla Power proposed LNG based plant at Tk 12.44 or 16.6961 cents per unit of electricity, subject to availability of LNG at a rate of $16.65 per mmbtu or mmcfd.
Reliance has sought per unit at Tk 7.9946 including Tk 3.2005 as capacity price and Tk 4.7941 as energy prices for phase-1 for 750 MW power plant at Meghnaghat. Besides, it also sought Tk 8.2198 per unit, including Tk 3.4445 for capacity payment and Tk 4.7753 as energy prices.  
"The technical committee will sit to discuss the issue," the official said.
The company also sought to allow them for setting up FSRU or land based LNG terminal to feed the mega power plant.
To implement two units of the Chittagong Power Project for 1,500 MW in phase-2, the company hopes Power Development Board (PDB) shall provide 100 acres of land. Besides, the company has sought 60 acres of land at Moheskhali to implement phase-3 project having the capacity to generate 750 MW of electricity.
The Indian company runs a 4,000 MW coal-fired power plant in Madhya Pradesh and another 500 MW coal-fired power plant in Maharashtra.  But the company has no experience in setting up LNG-fired power plant.