Why import power?

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ACCORDING to media reports, the government is busy with plan to import electricity from India. But it would take at least two years to establish the infrastructure on both sides of the border to import power from India. It raises the question, why Bangladesh has to go for a cumbersome process to import power to keep it dependent on external power supply. It would be more sensible to go for self-reliance in power.
It would be another matter if Bangladesh could get the needed electricity from India quickly. When it is not the case, why is this scramble for the import? It should be more cost efficient to produce power in the country. It would also provide the advantage, denied by dependence on imports. Power plants on rental basis or crash programmes to import LNG to run power stations, which remain out of production due to lack of gas supply, would make better sense.

Bashir Ahmed
45, Kathalbagan, Dhaka