Bangladesh needs to sit down with Adani Group: India’s External Affairs Ministry
Bangladesh should sit with Adani Group to find out the issues related to the power contract. The Ministry of External Affairs of India has suggested this last Thursday (September 12).
According to the report of the Indian media The Hindu, Randhir Jaswal, the spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, gave this advice at the weekly press conference.
Randhir Jaswal said that Bangladesh’s power purchase agreement from Adani is related to the private sector and therefore the matter should be dealt with as such.
In response to a question, he said, ‘What you mentioned is a private project. It is limited to a buyer-seller agreement between two parties. Here one side is Indian, the other side is Bangladeshi. These two parties will determine how this agreement or arrangement will work.
On Thursday, the Indian Express said about a top official of Bangladesh that the interim government will review the operations of Indian business companies, including electricity provider Adani Power.
According to the report, a top official, who did not want to be named, said that the operations of Indian business firms, particularly the Adani Group, will be reviewed. What kind of contract is signed, what are the conditions? Because no foreign company can disobey the laws of Bangladesh.
The official also said that the purpose of this investigation is not to target Indian businesses. Rather, how much money Bangladesh is actually paying to Adani Power and whether it is reasonable, to find answers to those questions.
Adani Power is a company of Adani Group in the power-fuel sector. On November 5, 2017, a power purchase agreement was signed between Bangladesh Power Development Board and Adani Power (Jharkhand) Limited (APJL).
They signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) of 1,496 MW for 25 years. Under the agreement, Adani Power constructed a power plant in Godda, Jharkhand, India to provide electricity to Bangladesh. Now Dhaka is importing electricity from there.
Meanwhile, Hindustan Times reported that the chief adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh asked for the money due to the sale of electricity. Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani has written to Muhammad Yunus.
According to reports, Adani Group received $800 million from Bangladesh Power Development Board for power supply. Gautam Adani has written a letter to the chief advisor for this debt.
