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Power import starts formally tomorrow

National grid to get 175 MW electricity from India

Staff Correspondent
The much-talked about power import from India will get under way on a commercial basis from tomorrow through the addition of 175 megawatt (MW) of electricity to the national grid.
"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally inaugurate the electricity import at the power transmission centre in Bheramara. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the programme through video conference," said Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury yesterday.
Tawfiq, energy adviser to the premier, was speaking at a press conference at the PI D conference room in the capital.
The test supply of power began on September 27 when 50 MW of electricity were added to the national grid through a high voltage sub-station at Bheramara in Kushtia, said a senior official of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PCCB).
Initially 175 MW power will be imported and supplied to the national grid. The transmission will be increased up to 500 MW at the end of November, said Tawfiq.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two countries in 2010 on import of a total of500 MW power from India.
Half of this power will be coming from
the Indian central government electricity quota and the rest from its open market.
The purchase price of 250 MW of power that will come from the Indian government's quota will be Tk 4 and some paisa per unit, Tawfiq said.
For the remaining 250 MW of electricity, which will come from the open market, the purchase price will be around Tk 6 per unit, he added.
The total amount of electricity, which is to be imported under a 35-year contract, will improve the country's power crisis situation, which is now being tackled through costly but short-term rental power plants, said an official ofPGCB.
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, who was present at the press conference, said, "We are looking forward to an initiation of regional power trade through grid connectivity."
When newsmen asked whether India stood as an obstacle to Bangladesh's move for importing electricity from Nepal and Bhutan, Indian Power Secretary PK Sinha said India was very much positive about such moves.
"But Bangladesh needs tripartite discussions on implementing such projects, " he added.
State Minister for Power and Energy Enamul Haque also spoke at the press conference.