Dhaka, Delhi finalise draft MoU for power trade

FE Team | Published: November 24, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
Bangladesh and India has finalised the draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for power trade and exchange between the countries, officials said Monday.
The draft of the MoU was finalised during the visit of a Bangladesh delegation comprising power secretary Abul Kalam Azad and Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir to India last week.
The MoU between the two countries would be signed during next month's visit of Prime Minister to New Delhi.
During discussions last week, the top power ministry officials of both the countries agreed to constitute a steering committee to be co-chaired by power secretaries of the two countries to work out the details and the modalities of the proposed cooperation after the signing of the MoU.
A separate taskforce would also be framed consisting top government officials of both the countries to move forward bilateral cooperation on power sector and expedite power connectivity between Bangladesh and India, the BPDB chairman told the FE Monday on his return from India.
An Indian technical team led by a joint secretary is now visiting Dhaka to look onto the details of the proposed bilateral cooperation in power sector, Mr Kabir said.
During last week's visit both the countries discussed on a wide spectrum of issues including electricity generation, transmission and inter-connectivity.
A power line connection between India's West Bengal and Bangladesh's western region is on top priority for bilateral cooperation.
Electricity inter-connection between Tripura and Bangladesh's eastern region is also under consideration.
There is also a plan for equity investment from Bangladesh for installation of a 740-megawatt (mw) combined cycle gas-fired power plant in Tripura.
Bangladesh would get electricity from the Tripura plant, once it invests in the project, he added.
"But to address all these issues separate deals are required to be signed between the two countries," said the BPDB chairman.
The MoU would act as the basis for signing other deals in these particular issues, he added.
Experts said there are prospects of exchanging power to the tune of around 1000 million units per annum.
The exchange volume could be around 100 megawatts (mw) for initial period, which could rise further based on needs.
To ensure smooth electricity trade synchronisation of the transmission systems of the two countries is also necessary.
Currently Bangladesh's transmission system is based on 232 KV AC line while the Indian system is based on 210 KV AC line.
During the tour, the Bangladesh delegation visited some under-construction power plants and coalmines.
They also visited some Indian projects, now being built under public private partnership (PPP) there.
"Visiting the sites were fruitful as we have planned to build a number of coalmines under the proposed PPP," the BPDB chairman added.