The Bangladesh cabinet committee on government purchase in a meeting on Tuesday approved a proposal to import 40 megawatt hydro power from Nepal through India.

The meeting, presided over by finance minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, approved the proposal submitted by Bangladesh Power Development Board.

According to the proposal, PDB will purchase 40MW power for five years under a tripartite agreement among Nepal Electricity Authority, NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Limited of India and PDB.

Cabinet division secretary for coordination and reforms Mahmudul

Hossain Khan told reporters in a briefing at secretariat that per unit of electricity from Nepal would cost Tk 8.17.

Bangladesh has been trying to import power from hydro-electricity surplus Nepal through the India transmission line up to Bheramara in Kushtia.

The Himalayan Kingdom is geographically separated from Bangladesh by the 22-kilometre Siliguri-corridor of India.

The cabinet division secretary said the power tariff included a trading margin of Tk 0.59 in favour of India.

Besides, Bangladesh will have to pay transmission charge to India for using its infrastructure, he said.

But the fee is yet to fix, he added.

The cabinet division secretary said Bangladesh is expected to sign an agreement with Nepal soon to formalise the arrangement.

He said the commencement of electricity supply would be determined during the prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s upcoming visit to Nepal.

According to the proposal, PDB will require around Tk 650 crore to impleme power purchase deal nt thewith Nepal.

Bangladesh is already purchasing power from India.

Around 2,600MW power from India, around 17 per cent of the country’s demand of 15,000MW, is added to the national grid every day.

The Indian power include around 15,00MW from a coal-fired power plant in Jharkhand built by Adani Group, a private power producer, targeting Bangladesh.

In the past month, Adani officials met with the finance minister requesting the latter for clear their arrears.

It has been reported the PDB cannot clear the arrears because of dollar shortage.

Source: New Age