Bangladesh is going to achieve another milestone in power sector as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today inaugurated the main construction work of the much-awaited Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the maiden nuclear plant of the country. She formally launched the main construction work of the plant by pouring concrete at the plant site at Rooppur in Ishwardi of northern Pabna district this morning, local media reports said.
Science and Technology Minister Architect Yeafesh Osman, PM's Economic Affairs Adviser Dr Moshiur Rahman, Energy Adviser Dr Towfique-e-Elahi Chowdhury, Security Adviser Major General (retd) Tariq Ahmed Siddiq, Chief of Army Staff General Abu Belal Muhammad Shafiul Huq, PM's Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim, Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander Ignatov, Russia's state-run atomic energy body Rosatom's Director General Alexey Likhachev, Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Md Abdur Razzak and project director of the plant and senior officials of Bangladesh and Russia were present on the occasion.
The Rooppur plant is expected to add 2,400MW of electricity to the national grid by 2024, helping the country to meet an increasing demand for electricity. The mega project is being implemented by the state-run Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) under the Science and Technology Ministry, with financial, technical and technological support by Russia through its state nuclear agency, Rosatom.
The BAEC and Russian company, JSC Atomstroyexport, signed a general contract for construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant on Dec 25 in 2015.
On Oct 2, 2013, Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the Rooppur Plant at Ishwardi in Pabna.
