The also unveiled a power plant and inagurated a railway bridge

India and Bangladesh signed seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on Tuesday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi on Tuesday. These relate to water sharing, railways, space, science, judiciary and broadcasting.

The two leaders also jointly unveiled Unit-I of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Project. Being constructed under India’s concessional financing scheme, the Project will add 1320 MW to Bangladesh’s National Grid.

They jointly inaugurated the 5.13 km Rupsha rail bridge, which is a key part of the 64.7 km Khulna-Mongla Port broad gauge rail project.

The following MoUs were signed:

  1. MoU between the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India and Ministry of Water Resources, Government of Bangladesh on withdrawal of Water by India and Bangladesh from common border river Kushiyara.

  2. MoU between the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board), Government of India and the Ministry of Railways, Government of Bangladesh on training of Bangladesh Railway personnel in India.

  3. MoU between the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board), Government of India and the Ministry of Railways, Government of Bangladesh on Collaboration in IT systems such as FOIS and other IT applications for Bangladesh Railway.

  4. MoU between the National Judicial Academy, India and the Supreme court of Bangladesh on Training and Capacity Building Programe for Bangladesh Judicial Officers in India.

  5. MoU on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Council for Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India and Bangladesh Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (BCSIR), Bangladesh.

  6. MoU on Cooperation in the Areas of Space Technology.

  7. MoU between the Prasar Bharti and Bangladesh Television (BTV) on Cooperation in Broadcasting.

The following Projects were Inaugurated/Announced/Unveiled:

1.Unveiling of Maitree power plant - The 1320 (660x2) MW super critical coal-fired thermal power plant at Rampal, Khulna is being set up at an estimated cost of approximately USD 2 billion with USD 1.6 billion as Indian Development Assistance under Concessional Financing Scheme.

  1. Inauguration of Rupsha bridge - The 5.13 km Rupsha rail bridge is a key part of the 64.7 km Khulna-Mongla Port single track broad gauge rail project, connecting for the first time Mongla Port with Khulna by rail, and thereafter to Central and North Bangladesh and also to the India border at Petrapole and Gede in West Bengal.

  2. Supply of road construction equipment and machinery - The project consists of supply of road maintenance and construction equipment and machinery in 25 packages to Bangladesh Road and Highways Department.

  3. Khulna Darshana railway line link project - The project is upgradation of existing (doubling of Broad Gauge) infrastructure linking the current cross border rail link at Gede-Darshana to Khulna thereby augmenting the rail connections between the two countries, especially to Dhaka, but also in future to Mongla Port. The project cost is estimated at USD 312.48 million.

  4. Parbatipur -Kaunia railway line - The conversion of the existing Metre Gauge line to Dual Gauge line project is estimated at USD 120.41 million. The project will connect to the existing cross border rail at Birol (Bangladesh)-Radhikapur (West Bengal) and will enhance bilateral rail connectivity.

The exchange of MoUs was preceded by India-Bangladesh delegation-level talks led by the two Prime Ministers. Issues related to connectivity, energy, water resources, trade and investment, border management and security, development partnership, and regional and multilateral matters were discussed in the meeting.