The Bangladesh’s power-man Aziz Khan who was also earmarked as the country’s first 0.91 billion dollar man by Forb’s has set a design prepping up for greener energy to the country at a reasonable cost. He promised CSR fund over US$ 1.0 million for health and education sector Bangladesh.
As part of the plan Khan’s company Summit Power International (SPI) is focusing on cross-border import of green energy at a cheaper rate such as wind, water or solar power from India, Nepal and Bhutan.
The SPI recently recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with JERA Co., Inc. aiming establishing zero emissions targets for Summit Power International, outlining a roadmap to achieve these targets and identifying opportunities to deploy greener fuels such as hydrogen or ammonia in support of decarbonization efforts.
It also launched discussion with Wärtsilä Corporation for future power generation in Bangladesh, increase efficiency of Wärtsilä Corporation engines and decrease carbon emission with the ambition to achieve 10% of renewable power mix by 2025
SPI recently has acquired around one fourth of a power project of an Indian power company in Tripura, marking the first footprint of any Bangladeshi company on investing in a foreign power venture.
Summit is also in talks with another company over a deal to invest, purchase and import renewable energy to Bangladesh from India at a competitive rate. These cross border renewable deals are backed by The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and are part of policies of the two governments.
The company that now has a huge stake in Bangladesh’s energy industry is also trying to secure a Liquefied Natural gas (LNG) deal with an American company on a long-term basis at a reasonably low cost.
The company transferred its head-office to Singapore with a view to expand its activities beyond Bangladesh, which still remains its business hotspot and where Summit plans to invest another $3 billion by 2025. Moving to Singapore has made it easier for Summit to get finances.
Summit has 20 power plants in Bangladesh with a capacity to generate 1,942MW electricity—representing around 8% of the country’s total power generation capacity — and another 600 mw under construction.
The SPI is currently employs over 6,000 people. The Group has investments in the energy sector, ports, logistics, information technology and hospitality.
As part CSR initiatives, In Gazipur, Sumit bought land, built a new three-storied school complex of ‘38 No. Kalakoir Government Primary School’ and handed it over to the authorities. It also have now expanded our support to another 4,000 students through Jaago Foundation, the winner of UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the ‘Use of ICT in Education’. SPI are also looking forward to beginning our groundwork for the Summit-JERA Energy Institute (SJEI) in Bangladesh that will be a premier academic institution.
In response, Muhammed Aziz Khan generously pledged to donate USD 0.5 million from Summit Corporation and personally, along with his wife a matching funds from the Anjuman & Aziz Charitable Trust, a total of USD 1 Million to icddr,b Hospital endowment fund, making it the largest private donation pledge ever to icddr,b from a Bangladeshi.
Under the leadership of Muhammed Aziz Khan, Summit set up the first Independent Power Plant in Bangladesh in 1998, Khulna Power Company Limited (KPCL). Currently, Summit generates more than 1,950 megawatts (MW) of electricity and is by far the largest independent power producer in Bangladesh. A further 600 MW of electricity generation facility is presently under construction by Summit (75%) and GE (25%) and 2,400 MW is under development. Summit has also set up Bangladesh’s first private off-dock port facility, Summit Alliance Ports Limited which handles about 25% of Bangladesh’s export volume and about 7% of the country’s import volume. Summit Communications Limited , another company founded by Muhammed Aziz Khan, is the first company to lay a Bangladesh-wide fibre-optic transmission network. Summit Communication Limited’s fibre optic cables cover the entirety of Bangladesh, with over 47,000 kilometres of laid fibre. The company also connects Bangladesh to India through terrestrial fibre optics and SEA-ME-WE-4 and SEA-ME-WE5 to Singapore and Europe.
Muhammed Aziz Khan was born in 1955. He has an MBA from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. Mr. Khan is also the Chairman of Siraj Khaleda Trust and former President of Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies (BAPLC), he is a member of the Prothom Alo Trust and was also the founder President of Bangladesh Scouts Foundation and Bangladesh Energy Companies’ Association. Muhammed Aziz Khan is the Honorary Consul General of Finland to Bangladesh. Muhammed Aziz Khan is married to Anjuman Aziz Khan and has three daughters, Ayesha, Adeeba and Azeeza.
