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Govt to take $ 1.47b loans for 3 projects

Rejaul Karim Byron
The government plans to take $ 1.47 billion hard-term loans for three projects, including the regional submarine telecommunications project.
The finance ministry will place proposals today at a meeting to be chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
The government will take $44 million from Islamic Development Bank to implement the submarine cable project, while Submarine Cable Company will spend around $70 million to acquire the 1,400 Gbps capacity.
The rate of interest on the loan will be Libor+1.35 percent—to be repayable in 13 years, including a grace period of three years.
In March, Bangladesh signed a contract with a consortium to install a second submarine cable that will increase the country's internet bandwidth sevenfold.
Bangladesh will be part of the SEA-ME-WE-5 cable that will connect 15 leading operators in Asia-Pacific and Europe. It is expected to be installed in 22 months.
The cable's landing station will be in Kuakata in the southern district of Patuakhali. France's Alcatel-Lucent and Japanese NEC—both telecom and network equipment makers—will build the cable for the consortium.
Another loan is going to be taken from China for the Barapukuria 275MW coal-fired thermal power plant where the terms and conditions including the rate of interest are much harder.
To implement the power plant joint venture, Harbin Electric International Co Ltd and CCC Engineer PR China have been selected as the lowest bidders.
The government is going to take a buyer's credit of $225 million from Chinese Exim Bank for the project, where the rate of interest is 6 months Libor+3.25 percent.
In addition, there are various other charges, including a 1 percent commitment fee and 1.5 percent management fee. The loan is repayable in 10 years including a three-year grace period.
The repayment period will begin in fiscal 2017-18 and the total amount payable is around $282 million. There is no grant element in this loan, the official added.
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The committee will also consider taking loans of $1.2 billion from International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (IITFC) to import fuel.
Bangladesh has been taking loans from IITFC since 1977 to import fuel. The loan hastobepaidin9 months.
The energy ministry said it will require around $5.4 billion in 2014 and of the amount, the government can collect $2.8 billion through sale of fuel in the local market.
The rest of the amount will be taken through a deferred payment facility from Singapore and the Philippines. In 2013, the government took a loan of $2.2 billion from IITFC for fuel imports.