Bangladesh signs power deal with India

Energy-hungry Bangladesh will begin importing power from India by late 2012 after the two countries signed a landmark electricity transmission deal, an energy official said on Tuesday.

India will export up to 500 megawatts under the 35-year deal signed by the state-run power companies of both nations, the head of Bangladesh’s Power Development Board, Alamgir Kabir, told a news agency.

“It’s a landmark deal as far as we are concerned. It will help ensure energy security for our country and ease the acute power crisis,” he said.

Bangladesh has long suffered severe power outages because of demands from its fast-growing economy. Years of under-investment mean Bangladesh’s power plants generate around 4,000 megawatts of electricity a day, while demand totals 6,000 megawatts – a figure growing by 500 megawatts a year due to rapid industrialisation.

Just 40 per cent of Bangladesh’s 146 million people have power while peak-time shortages force some factories  to halt production.

In February, Dhaka also signed a 1.7 billion dollar agreement with India’s state-run National Thermal Power Corp to build two coal-fired power plants in southern Bangladesh. The deals highlight Dhaka’s improving ties with New Delhi under its new secular government led by Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party, analysts say.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2010.