REJAUL KARIM BYRON and MD ASADUZ ZAMAN

The government has slashed the development allocation for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) by around 20 per cent in the revised budget for the current fiscal year.

In a meeting, the National Economic Council yesterday approved the revised budget of Tk 14,836 crore for the country’s largest infrastructure project for FY2021-22, down from Tk 18,426 crore originally.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting virtually.

The overall Annual Development Programme (ADP) was trimmed by 7.88 per cent to Tk 207,550 crore, keeping the government’s contribution unchanged while cutting the foreign portion by 20 per cent, or Tk 17,774 crore.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said that the government primarily made allocations to projects based on expectations, but at the end of the year, the budget was revised on the basis of reality.

When asked about the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the RNPP project, the minister said, “There will be no direct effect on the plant.”

“It’s completely a bilateral agreement. All equipment, know-how, and funding are coming from Russia, and no third party is involved. The coronavirus pandemic was no less important than this conflict, but all activities have continued throughout the pandemic period,” said Mannan. He, however, said if the Russia-Ukraine conflict lingers, there might be some indirect effects.

“No disruption is foreseen in any of the commitments and work schedules in the construction of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant,” said Rosatom, the contractor of the plant, in a statement on Tuesday.

In 2015, Rosatom and the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission signed a contract to build the plant, consisting of two units with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts each.

Originally, the first unit of the plant was scheduled to open by 2024 and the second unit by 2025. But the plant is expected to become operational from 2023, said Shaukat Akbar, project director, earlier.

The project cost is Tk 113,092 crore. Russia is providing Tk 91,040 crore as a loan while the rest is coming from the government.

In the revised ADP, the allocation for 10 mega projects, including the RNPP, was slashed by 1.74 per cent to Tk 50,149 crore, documents from the planning ministry showed.

The budget for the Dhaka Metro Rail Project was brought down to Tk 4,233 crore from Tk 4,800 crore.

The budget size of the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation Elenga-Rangpur highway project went down to Tk 2,344 crore from Tk 2,550 crore. The Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge’s allocation for FY22 now stands at Tk 2,177 crore from Tk 3,580 crore in the original ADP.

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project’s allocation was brought down to Tk 2,500 crore from Tk 3,500 crore, and that of the Dhaka Sylhet land acquisition project witnessed a rise of budget to Tk 2,150 crore from Tk 1,675 crore previously.

The Padma Bridge Rail Link has seen its development allocation rise to Tk 6,134 crore from Tk 3,823 crore and the Fourth Primary Education Development Programme to Tk 6,138 crore from Tk 5,053 crore.

The authorities did not bring any change to the allocation for the Matarbari Power Plant of Tk 6,162 crore and the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport of Tk 3,473 crore.

Planning Secretary Pradip Ranjan Chakraborty said that some projects see an increase in allocation, while others see a decrease. “This is nothing new.”

Abu Hena Morshed Zaman, secretary of the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division, said conditions are not the major reason.

“When we take in foreign aid, we have to purchase foreign equipment and hire foreign consultants. But because of the pandemic or lockdowns, the consultants were out of the country and we could not import equipment in a proper way.”