Further uncertainty over Rooppur plant launch

The construction work for the transmission line through the Padma and Jamuna rivers for the Rooppur nuclear power plant has come to a grinding halt with the ouster of the Awami League government as the Indian contractor has left the site.

Without the transmission line, the commissioning of the $12.65 billion nuclear power plant is not possible, according to Md. Zahedul Hasan, its project director.

A total of 669 kilometres of grid line, including 16 kilometres of river crossing line in both Padma and Jamuna, is needed for power transmission to the national grid from the country’s first nuclear power plant, according to the Power Grid Company Bangladesh (PGCB).

Laying the transmission line across the two rivers forms the bulk of the work and that has not progressed well.

Only 38 percent of the work for the Padma river crossing line has been completed, while the progress on the Jamuna river crossing line is less than 25 percent, according to Md. Delwar Hossain, project director of the river crossing line for the Rooppur transmission line.

The Indian company Transrail Lighting got the contract for construction of the river crossing line for $524 million: a 2 km single circuit 400kv line across Padma, and one 7 km double circuit 400kv line and another 7 km 230kv line through Jamuna.

Of the three river crossing lines, Transrail has agreed to complete 2 km of 400kv river crossing line in Padma by October such that electricity could be transmitted from unit-1 of the Rooppur power plant, according to Rooppur project and PGCB officials.

The construction work had to be put on hold from the middle of July due to a huge flow of water in the Padma, Hossain said.

“Then the protests began and most of the workers and experts, who are all foreign nationals, started fearing for their safety and left the country,” he said.

About 150 foreign workers, including 100 Indians and 30 Indonesians, were working in the river crossing lines, according to PGCB.

“Most of them are yet to return, so there is no sign of resuming work. It is hard to give a timeline for when the work would be finished,” Hossain said.

Completing the grid line work is the key priority now, said Rooppur’s project director Hasan.

The first unit of Rooppur was supposed to start in 2023 and the second unit by 2024, as per the original schedule.

According to the revised schedule, the unit-1 was supposed to start in December but the abysmal progress of the grid line indicates the deadline will not be met.

The 1,200 megwatt power plant, which is being built was $11.38 billion soft loan from Russia, is a flagship mega-project of the Awami League government.