The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has granted permission to import spare parts for the coal-fired Rampal Power Plant without customs duty, according to a notification issued last week.

The NBR said the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd, which owns the power plant, will get duty benefit to import spare parts up to 10 percent of the actual value of the consignment.

The opportunity will be valid for a 12-year period from the beginning of commercial operations.

A senior official of the NBR said the customs authority provided the privilege as other power plants, regardless of ownership, enjoy similar duty benefits for the import of spare parts.

"We have done this to give equal treatment to all," he said.

The 1,320-MW super thermal power project, which stirred up a lot of protests as it is being built only 14 km from the largest mangrove forest in the world, the Sundarbans, began commercial production in the fourth week of December 2022.

The 50-50 joint venture between India's National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd and the Bangladesh Power Development Board was established at an estimated cost $2 billion.