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14<br />
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, <strong>2016</strong><br />
DT<br />
Business<br />
Nuclear Power Plant gets Ecnec nod<br />
• Tribune Business Desk<br />
Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant construction<br />
project proposal worth<br />
Tk1,13,093 crore yesterday got<br />
green signal from the Executive<br />
Committee of the National Economic<br />
Council (Ecnec).<br />
This is the country’s first such<br />
power plant and most expensive<br />
project in history of Bangladesh.<br />
The approval was made in a meeting,<br />
chaired by Prime Minister<br />
Sheikh Hasina, held at National Economic<br />
Council conference room.<br />
Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission<br />
in association with Russia’s<br />
state-owned Rosatom State Atomic<br />
Energy Corporation will implement<br />
the project to generate 2,400-megawatt<br />
power by 2025.<br />
Of the total project cost, Russia<br />
will provide Tk91,040 crore, 80%<br />
of the total project cost while the<br />
government will provide Tk22,053<br />
crore. Thw plant is being set up at<br />
Rooppur in Ishwardi, Pabna.<br />
After the Ecnec meeting, planning<br />
minister AHM Mustafa Kamal<br />
said the nuclear power project is the<br />
country’s largest investment project.<br />
It would supply clean electricity<br />
at a cheap rate over its 60 years<br />
lifespan although the initial investment<br />
was pretty high, he added.<br />
“There are long-term positive impacts<br />
of the plant amid demands<br />
for reducing carbon emissions.”<br />
From Russia, Bangladesh has<br />
already received $500 million for<br />
initial work of the power plant project,<br />
which started in July <strong>2016</strong>.<br />
The reactor will contain improved<br />
safety features, and its passive<br />
safety system is capable of working<br />
for 72 hours in case of any critical<br />
or emergency situation.<br />
For the Russian loan, the rate of<br />
interest will be 1.75% plus Libor and<br />
the loan has to be repaid over 20<br />
years with a grace period of 10 years.<br />
Bangladesh and Russia signed a<br />
financial deal of $11.38bn in Moscow<br />
recently to implement the country’s<br />
first-ever nuclear power plant. •<br />
Eurogroup head wants ‘different<br />
attitude’ from UK on Brexit<br />
• AFP, Brussels<br />
Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem urged<br />
Britain yesterday to show a “different attitude”<br />
in talks with the EU, warning of a disorderly<br />
Brexit if London fails to change.<br />
Dijsselbloem, who heads the group of<br />
19 eurozone finance ministers, issued the<br />
warning as his British counterpart insisted a<br />
smooth Brexit was still possible.<br />
“It can be smooth and it can be orderly,<br />
but requires a different attitude I think on<br />
the part of the British government,” Dijsselbloem,<br />
the Dutch finance minister, told reporters<br />
as he arrived for talks with all 28 EU<br />
finance ministers in Brussels.<br />
“Because the things I have been hearing so<br />
far are incompatible with smooth and incompatible<br />
with orderly.”<br />
His comments came shortly before European<br />
Commission Brexit negotiator Michel<br />
Barnier was due to give his first press conference<br />
after talks with the other 27 European<br />
Union nations.<br />
Dijsselbloem repeated his warning that it<br />
would be impossible to maintain Europe’s<br />
financial capital in London if Britain chooses<br />
to thwart EU rules after Brexit.<br />
“If the UK wants access to the internal<br />
market, they will have to accept the rules and<br />
regulations which go with that internal market,”<br />
he said.<br />
Asked about comments by other EU leaders<br />
that Britain cannot “have its cake and eat<br />
it”, he added: “I was going to stay away from<br />
this cliche but you are absolutely right.”<br />
British Prime Minister Theresa May has<br />
promised to trigger the two-year divorce<br />
process at the end of March in line with the<br />
shock June 23 popular vote for Britain to exit<br />
the bloc, but has not revealed a clear negotiating<br />
position.<br />
Her Finance Minister Philip Hammond<br />
said he wanted a deal that worked for both<br />
London and the rest of the EU.<br />
“I think that’s in everybody’s interest on<br />
both sides of the English Channel to have as<br />
smooth a process as possible,” he said as he<br />
arrived for the talks.<br />
“That minimizes the threat to European<br />
financial fincanical stability and minimizes<br />
the disruption to the very complex relationship<br />
that exists between European manufacturing<br />
buisinesses and their financing banks<br />
and so on in London.” Hammond confirmed<br />
comments by Brexit Minister David Davis<br />
that Britain could continue to pay for access<br />
to some parts of the single market. •
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