PDB, Swiss company to team up for Maheshkhali LNG power plant

The Power Development Board (PDB) is due to strike an agreement with Switzerland-based GE Global Parts & Products GmbH, soon, to form a joint-venture company to construct a 3,600-megawatt LNG-based combined cycle power plant at Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar.

The initial authorised capital of the proposed company will be Tk110 crore, while the paid-up capital will be Tk16 crore.

The draft agreement was recently finalised at an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Power Division Secretary Dr Sultan Ahmed. Now, it will be signed with the vetting of the law ministry, officials concerned said.

The PDB has 5,600 acres of land in Maheshkhali where the power plant will be set up. In 2016, the PDB signed a memorandum of understanding with the Swiss company to construct this LNG-based power plant, they added.

According to the proposed joint-venture agreement, the PDB will have a 51% share while GE Global Parts & Products GmbH will get a 30% stake and strategic investors 19% of the proposed company. The strategic investors will be selected through mutual consent of the two parties.

The proposed company will have an 11-member board of directors, with: six representatives from the PDB – including a chairman and managing director, three from the GE, and two directors from the strategic partner. The company's chief financial officer will be appointed by the GE.

Regarding the locked-in shares, the proposed joint-venture agreement states that unless otherwise agreed by the parties in writing, they shall be restricted from the sale or transfer of the ordinary share capital that they each hold in the project to any other parties up to 100%, until the project achieves commercial operation, or up to 50% until six years after date of commercial operation.