The World Bank will provide 209 million US dollars, equivalent to Tk 1200 crore, in credit for the country's power sector development.

An official announcement said the loan would be available in the next fiscal year for financing the vital sector, which needs huge investment for catering to an ever-growing

demand for electricity.

The announcement came from a meeting between the World Bank and the Power Division of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources held at the Bangladesh Secretariat yesterday.

State Minister for Power Iqbal Hasan Mahmud and Chief Energy Expert of the World Bank Mark Heitner led their respective sides at

the talks.

State Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources AKM Mosharraf Hossain was present in the meeting as invited guest.

The meeting was informed that $196 million out of the total 209 million dollars would be spent for implementing development programmes of the Rural

Electrification Board (REB).

The rest 13 million dollars will be utilised as technical assistance for strengthening the Power Cell for effective monitoring.

REB will spend the money for installing 4,000-kilometer transmission and distribution lines, repair and maintenance, and procuring necessary equipment.

Different aspects of the Power Reforms Bill and setting up of Energy Regulatory Commission were also discussed in the meeting.

The multilateral donor agency had long suspended financing the power sector for failure to effect necessary reforms, remove irregularities as well as reduce high system loss.

Current electricity network reportedly covers hardly over 20 per cent of the population while the vast majority of rural people still remain in the dark for lack of adequate power generation and expansion of the distribution system.

Among others, Power Secretary SM Shamsul Alam, Joint Secretary (Development) M Shah Alam, Director General of Power Cell M Moklesur Rahman and CBA general secretary of PDB M Jafrul Hasan were present in the meeting.