Bangladeshi engineering student Noyon Ali, 22, serves ice-cream and fruit juice at a stall on a hot, dusty roadside to Russian customers, using a menu translated with an online app.
He moved across the Padma River to Rooppur to benefit from the arrival of Russians working on the construction of Bangladesh’s first nuclear power plant in the north-central town nicknamed “Russpur” (the Russian town) by locals.
“Many restaurants, beauty parlours and commercial establishments have sprouted in this place to cater to the influx of Russians, as well as people from various parts of Bangladesh working on the nuclear power project,” said Ali.
The Rooppur nuclear plant is being built by Rosatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation, using Russian technology and a Russian loan of $11.38 billion to be repaid over two decades from 2027.
With a planned power generation capacity of 2,400 megawatts, which is expected to power 15 million households, the Rooppur nuclear plant will add Bangladesh to the list of more than 30 nations that have operating reactors.
Since the summer, Bangladesh has grappled with power cuts amid spiking fuel prices around the world – and nuclear energy is seen by some experts as a potential way out.
Ijaz Hossain, professor and dean of engineering at the Bangladesh…
