Although Bangladesh was involved in conversations with China (in 2008) about funding their Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP), they settled on a much more expensive loan from Russia in May of 2016. Atomstroyexport – a subsidiary of Russian state-owned Rosatom – agreed to do the job for a massive $12.65 billion – more than double the cost of India’s Kundankulam facility (also built by Rosatom) and triple the cost of a plant built in Belarus with the same technology.

It's normal, in mega construction projects like these, for costs and timelines to end up ballooning beyond initial expectations, and this one was no exception. By February 2023, the cost had risen to $15.68 billion when those trading FX had watched the Bangladeshi taka steadily lose value, and also due to some extra costs. These costs related to house construction for the building staff, their salaries, and land development fees. One of the biggest auxiliary costs was for expert consultancy from India, which was set at almost a billion US dollars. Besides that, a special water route had to be developed from Chattogram and Mongla via Chandpur to Paksey – costing $500 million – which was scheduled for completion this year.

According to Energy & Power, “The significant cost difference (between RNPP and similar projects) will result in higher electricity bills for decades”. That’s because, although the operating costs of nuclear facilities tend to be quite low, their economic viability depends on the upfront expenditures. This is what consumers will have to pay off in their electricity bills in the years following completion.

Was the RNPP just a colossal waste of time and money? Join us for some answers.

Electricity Bills When the contract with Rosatom was signed in 2016, the Bangladeshi Minister for Power Energy and Mineral Resources announced that the price of the nuclear energy generated by RNPP would be Tk 5 – Tk 5.30 (between 5 and 5.30 takas per unit of electricity). However, German researchers calculated that this was a substantial underestimation, and that the true price would be over Tk 8 – possibly exceeding the costs of coal-powered electricity. An official of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) says the cost will really exceed Tk 10 – double the initial estimate.

Professor Shamsul Alam, an energy expert, said in 2023 that “The RNPP’s construction cost is so high that there is no chance of getting electricity at an affordable price”. The truth is that the costs Bangladeshis will ultimately face are shrouded in mystery. In mid-March of this year, the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), which is actually involved in the construction, did not know what the resultant electricity prices would be. The BPDB, which will buy electricity from RNPP, also could shed no light on the matter.

Power tariff expert Mizanur Rahman adds that those trading FX with the taka or the dollar will also impact electric bills. “As the dollar crosses Tk 121, the electricity tariff of nuclear power will definitely cross Tk 10 per unit”, he said in March of this year.

Loan Repayments Both Rosatom and their Russian bank VEB.RF were sanctioned by the US after the Ukraine invasion in 2022, which complicated Bangladesh’s task of paying back the loan. (At the time, only a billion dollars had been repaid on that loan.) Since then, several solutions have been tried – unsuccessfully – until, in March 2025, Bangladesh was still encountering difficulties in making payments.

Atomstroyexport opened an account at Sonali Bank in 2022 in order to receive payments and send out funds to local subcontractors. In March 2025, the Russian company asked Sonali Bank to transfer about $2 million to Roin World – a Spanish subcontractor involved in the project. Sonali then contacted the Bangladesh Bank with a query: Would this not violate US sanctions and potentially add Bangladesh to America’s list of sanctioned entities? Finance Advisor Salehudd Ahmed answered that the transfer should be attempted on a “test basis”. The test failed: Standard Chartered Bank in New York blocked the SWIFT payment due to US sanctions.

Mega Projects In her time in office, Sheikh Hasina embarked on several ambitious construction projects with snowballing costs. Building the Padma Bridge was supposed to cost $1.16 billion in 2007 but ended up running up to $3.6 billion. The Dhaka City Metro Rail was originally priced at $2.1 billion but came in finally at $3.3 billion. As to the underwater Karnaphuli Tunnel, its initial quote of $803 million had to be increased to $1.03 billion. It’s no surprise that the World Bank says road construction costs in Bangladesh are the highest in the world, pointing the finger of blame at the overpricing of supplies, rampant corruption, and extended delays.

As to the Padma Bridge, this was financed by the Bangladeshi government itself after international lending agencies turned down the project due to a bribery scandal. Hasina’s insistence that her government would fund it themselves appeared to many economists as wildly unrealistic. At the bridge’s inauguration in 2022, Hasina made sure to do a victory lap before them, declaring that “This Padma Bridge is not a pile of brick and cement. This bridge is a symbol of Bangladesh’s pride, honour, and ability”. It may be a symbol, but it was also meant to be an actual concrete structure built in an orderly, cost-effective way.

Final Words Sheikh Hasina herself, her son Sajeeb Wazed, and her niece Tulip Siddiq are all being investigated by Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission for embezzlement, corruption, and money-laundering relating to the RNPP, with missing funds amounting to $5 billion – an accusation that Sajeeb calls “completely bogus”. Bogus it may be, but certainly not surprising. The RNPP is likely to be an albatross around the Bangladeshi people’s necks for many years to come.

(Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with NRDPL and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR PWR