Smoke rises from a chimney as electricity pylons stand at a thermal power station in India.
Credit: Bloomberg Photo
By Arun Devnath and P R Sanjai
Bangladesh faces a continuing shortage of electricity, increasing the risk of blackouts, even after making a partial payment to a power plant in India that slashed supply because of unpaid bills.
Adani Power Ltd. has received a letter of credit for $170 million, easing pressure from lenders, two officials said, declining to be identified as internal discussions continue. The partial payment doesn’t resolve the crisis, but the company won’t halt supplies for now, pending talks with the lenders of the Godda thermal plant in Jharkhand, the officials said.
“Payments should have been made by this time,” Ahsan H Mansur, governor of Bangladesh Bank said in a phone interview on Friday. The central bank “issued an instruction for the payment” earlier this week, Mansur said.
Electricity supplies from the plant, which had accounted for about 10 per cet of Bangladesh’s total, were reduced to about 500 megawatts on Thursday, after being halved to about 700 megawatts earlier, according to Power Grid Bangladesh data. Adani Power, controlled by Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, cut supplies after overdue payments crossed $850 million.
Outages could fan discontent as the nation grapples with a financial crisis after weeks of violent protests overthrew Sheikh Hasina’s government earlier this year. It also adds to headwinds faced by the interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, that’s already tackling billions of dollars in arrears.