Indo-Bangla joint meet on power sector cooperation to take place Jan 30-31

A two-day joint meeting on Bangladesh-India power sector cooperation will be held here on January 30-31 to asses the progress in the field and also to discuss different crucial issues, including power import from India, reports UNB. A top official at the Power Division here informed that the Indian Power Ministry Wednesday confirmed the joining of its officials in the meeting on the proposed dates (January 30-31). "We received a letter from Indian Power Ministry today in which the Indian side has confirmed the dates of January 30-31 to hold the proposed meeting in Dhaka", the official told the news agency wishing anonymity. Earlier, the proposed meeting was scheduled for December 17-18 last year in Dhaka. But at the request of the Indian side, the meeting was deferred without a new date. Now, through the latest letter, the Indian side confirmed the new date. Official sources said that under the title of Bangladesh-India power sector cooperation, a joint working committee (JWC) meeting will take place on January 30 and then a joint steering committee (JSC) meeting will be held on January 31. In addition, the sources said the first board meeting of the newly formed Bangladesh India Friendship Power Company Limited (BIFPC) will be held on January 29. Dhaka and New Delhi formed the BIFPC to implement a 1,320 MW coal-fired power plant in Khulna near the Sundarbans in Bangladesh. Power secretaries of both the nations will lead their respective side to the joint steering committee meeting while additional secretaries or joint secretaries will lead the joint working committee meeting. Both the meetings will discuss the progress on Bangladesh's power import from India and setting up of the coal-fired power plant in Khulna. Sources said Bangladesh side will place a new proposal at the meeting to import more power from India through its Sylhet and Tripura boards and also setting up joint venture power plant in Tripura. The Indo-Bangla joint steering committee on Power Sector Cooperation was formed in 2010 and its first meeting was held on January 12 the same year in New Delhi. Since then, the committee was due to sit twice a year in Dhaka and New Delhi alternatively. The last meeting of the joint steering committee meeting was held in New Delhi on February 28 last year where Bangladesh and India signed two initial deals, one for the purchase of 250 MW of electricity by Bangladesh and another for setting up the 1320-MW coal-fired power plant. But after that meeting, another meeting was due in Dhaka in December. But because of Indian Power Ministry's failure to confirm joining of its officials, the proposed meeting could not take place on December 17-18. Both Dhaka and New Delhi are implementing a transmission line project between Baharampur in Pashchimbanga's Murshidabad district and Bhermara in Ishwardi-Khulna area of western Bangladesh. Bangladesh expects to start the import of electricity through this line from July this year. Power Ministry officials indicated that a number of final deals might be signed between Dhaka and New Delhi on power import by Bangladesh and also setting up of power plants jointly. Following the last year's deal, Bangladesh's state-owned Power Development Board (PDB) and Indian state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) are implementing projects on power purchase and coal-fired power plants.