Delhi, Dhaka to ink deal for 100 MW power to Bangladesh

Agartala, Jan 11: India’s NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN) and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), both state-run companies, will soon sign an agreement to supply 100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh, Tripura’s Power Minister Manik Dey said on Monday.

“Transmission lines are ready to supply 100 MW of power to Bangladesh at any moment. However, the supply would start after an agreement between NVVN and BPDB,” Dey told reporters after returning from Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

“In Dhaka, several meetings were held to filise the power tariff. It was decided that the electricity would be supplied to Bangladesh at a price of Rs.5.5 per unit.”

Dey — accompanied by officials of the exterl affairs ministry, power ministry, Central Electricity Authority, and NVVN — went to Dhaka on Friday and held a series of meetings there with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasi, Minister of State for Power srul Hamid and officials.

“During the meeting, the Bangladesh prime minister was very keen to get more power from India as the country needs 8,000 MW of electricity to meet its energy crisis.

“The Tripura government is also ready to provide more power to Bangladesh if the central government has no objection,” Dey added.

The Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL) and the Power Generation Company of Bangladesh (PGCB), both government-run companies, set up the 47-km transmission lines on their sides for electricity supply from the Palata power plant in Tripura.

“Earlier, the supply of 100 MW of power to Bangladesh was supposed to start from December 16, 2015 to keep in mind the Vijay Diwas celebration. But the transmission lines were not ready and the plan could not materialise,” the minister said.

The 100 MW of power will be in addition to the 500 MW Bangladesh is already receiving from West Bengal.

During his June 6-7 Dhaka visit, Prime Minister rendra Modi discussed power supply from Tripura with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasi.

Modi had declared that India would eventually enhance the power supply to Bangladesh to 1,100 MW.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who a few years ago initiated the move to supply 100 MW of power to Bangladesh, had said that after a new 101 MW gas-based power project at Morchak (10 km from the Bangladesh border) is completed, at least 200 MW of power would be surplus in Tripura. (IANS)