Rooppur power plant construction continues as usual

NEWS DESK 

The construction of the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP) is continuing almost as usual despite the country-wide shutdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.

According to the project information, the construction site is still hosting 11,000-12,000 workers daily, including day labourers, office staff, local and foreign engineers.

But due to the coronavirus scare, the number of day labourers has been dropping for the last few days.

Shawkat Akbar, project director of RNPP, said that the work is continuing based on the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Health Ministry of Bangladesh.

"There is a temperature test system and hand sanitisers at the entrance of the project site for workers and officials. We follow this rule very strictly," said Shawkat Akbar.

"Besides, a building of the Public Works Department at the project site has been kept vacant for isolation," he added.

The country is implementing its first nuclear power plant project titled "Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project" in Rooppur, on the east side of the Padma River near Ishwardi, Pabna.

The first and second units of the nuclear plant, each having 1,200 megawatts of power generation capacity, are expected to go into commercial operation by 2024 and 2025 respectively.