Electricity Import
Govt plans to cash in on Bimstech initiative
Bangladesh plans to import of another 500 megawatt of power from India under the Bimstec framework.
Officials said the proposal will be formally placed at the Bimstec technical committee meeting scheduled for August 23-24 in Dhaka under a trans-power exchange initiative.
The Bimstec (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is a sub-regional group formed in 1997 in order to enhance economic cooperation among its member countries: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan.
Ahead of the Bimstec technical committee meeting, Bangladesh has formed a working committee headed by a Joint Secretary of the Power Ministry to finalise its working paper.
Heads of different organisations in the power sector as well as representatives of foreign ministry and law ministry are the members of the committee.
Official sources said the committee will finalise the country working paper today.
According to officials, Bangladesh will formally place a proposal in the Bimstec technical committee meeting to import 500 MW of additional electricity from India and also another proposal to import electricity from Myanmar.
“We’ll try to convince India to export 250 MW power from its under-construction Palatana power plant and another 250 MW from other plants in West Bengal,” said an official at the power ministry who is a member of the Bangladesh working group for the meeting.
Officials said Bangladesh’s present target is to import a total of about 1000 MW of electricity from neighbouring India.
They further said another proposal for establishing inter-regional power grid connectivity among the member countries, particularly among Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan, will be placed in the meeting from Bangladesh side.
-With UNB/The Daily Star input
