Fourth from right, Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, hands over a cheque to Muhammed Ali, managing director of United Commercial Bank, at the Westin hotel in Dhaka yesterday. UCB and Trust Bank will disburse about $20 million loans to a power plant in Chittagong

Bangladesh Bank yesterday disbursed about $20 million loan for Baraka Patenga Power Ltd to set up a 50-megawatt power plant in Chittagong.
The fund, first of its kind in the power sector, is part of the Investment Promotion and Financing Facility funded by the World Bank and managed by BB.

Baraka Patenga Power will receive the loans from United Commercial Bank and Trust Bank, UCB Managing Director Muhammed Ali told The Daily Star. The loans carry a 4 percent interest rate.

“Power is a vital sector to accelerate economic growth and investment. Such a fund will help the country generate more electricity,” BB Governor Atiur Rahman said at a programme at Westin Hotel in Dhaka.
The central bank has undertaken many innovative steps so that entrepreneurs have access to the foreign currency loan at low interest rates, he said.

Trust Bank Managing Director Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury and Baraka Patenga Power Chairman Faisal Ahmed Chowdhury were also present.  

BB, with the financial assistance of the World Bank, is implementing the IPFF to finance nine areas: power, ports, environment and solid waste management, highways and express ways, airports and terminal, water supply, economic development, social sector and information technology.