Bangladesh receives electricity from Billionaire Gautam Adani’s Godda plant in Jharkhand. The amount of $800 million owed by the country to Adani power has added to its financial tensions
Adani Power Ltd., amidst political turmoil, has reminded Bangladesh of $800 million unpaid dues for electricity supplied to the country. Apart from political tensions, the country is also facing severe economic issues said Bangladesh Bank’s newly appointed Governor Ahsan H. Mansur in a Bloomberg interview.
“If we don’t pay them, they will stop providing electricity," said the Governor.
Gautam Adani’s 1,600 MW Godda plant in Jharkhand supplies 100 per cent of electricity generated from the facility to Bangladesh. The plant started its commercial operations in April 2023.
Additionally, an unnamed source told Bloomberg that Billionaire Gautam Adani-led power company is in talks with Bangladesh’s interim government to resolve the issue.
“We have been providing uninterrupted power to Bangladesh from our Godda plant. We understand the importance of reliable power supply to Bangladesh and are committed to fulfilling contractual obligations as per BPDB’s demand schedule and provisions of PPA,” the company stated in a statement.
Apart from Gautam Adani’s power company, a few Indian state-owned firms like National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd and Power Trading Corporation of India Ltd, also supply electricity to Bangladesh.
In the ongoing internal tension, Bangladesh has reached out to the World Bank to ease its financial stress. As per a report in the BBC, the interim government of the country seeked an additional $1.5 billion from the World Bank and $1 billion from the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency
Earlier in August, the ministry of power amended the rules for power import/export and directed that electricity plants set up in India as an export-oriented unit to sell power in the country.
“Indian Generating Station(s) supplying electricity exclusively to neighbouring country may be allowed to build dedicated transmission line for connecting to the transmission system of neighbouring country keeping in view technical and strategic considerations,” said the ministry’s circular dated August 12.
The transmission to a neighbouring country will only be allowed if it's approved by the designated authority under the Electricity Act, 2003, the circular added.