China, Bangladesh sign power plant deal

China and Bangladesh Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) here for constructing a 1,320 MW power plant in the country's southeastern Cox's Bazaar district. Bangladesh's Power Development Board (PDB) signed the MoU with Huadian Hong Kong Company of China for the construction of the power plant in Moheshkhali sub-district of Cox's Bazaar, some 391 km southeast of capital Dhaka. The coal-based power plant will be constructed by 2019 under a joint venture company -- BPDB and China Haudian Hong Kong Company, according to the MoU. The MoU comes as part of the Bangladesh government's efforts to boost power generation to 15,000 megawatts by 2016 to improve the country's nagging electricity situation. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, power, energy and mineral resources affairs adviser to the Bangladeshi prime minister, has requested the Chinese firm to complete the project on time. According to the officials, Bangladesh and China will finance 30 percent of total project cost while the rest of the project cost will be taken as loan from other sources. The cost of the project will be finalized through a feasibility study shortly.