Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited (BIFFL), a state-run specialized financial institution, is going to finance the country's first electric vehicle manufacturing plant of Bangladesh Auto Industries Ltd (BAIL).
The signing ceremony of the syndicated term loan of Tk 167 crore was held recently in the capital, said a press release on Sunday.
The other financiers are - Agrani Bank Ltd, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd, Bangladesh Development Bank Ltd and First Security Islami Bank Ltd.
BIFEL CEO SM Anisuzzaman chaired the signing ceremony while Agrani Bank Managing Director and CEO Mohammad Shams-Ul Islam was the chief guest in the session.
According to the release, the proposed project's cost is estimated to be Tk 335 crore while financing at 50:50 debt-equity ratio for 8 years term.
Fujiyan Taiyu Automobile Company Ltd of China is the technical partner of the investment.
BAIL plans to manufacture all sorts of vehicles starting from two-wheelers, three-wheelers, sedan, hatchback, and sport utility vehicles (SUV), and gradually start manufacturing pickup trucks, mini trucks, and multipurpose vehicles.
It has almost completed setting up the factory on 100 acres of land at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar at Mirsharai of Chattogram.
They expect to go for commercial operations within next few months and for products to hit the market by June or July of 2022.
Considering purchasing capacity of the middle-class group, BAIL is expecting to sell an SUV at Tk 25 lakh, sedan at Tk 12 lakh to Tk 15 lakh, and a hatchback at Tk 8 lakh or even less.
Those vehicles would cut fuel cost by 90 per cent and per kilometre energy cost would be less than Tk 2.
