DHAKA: The government will jointly construct a pipeline between Bangladesh and India to supply fuel undisputedly and ensure smoother flow in the northern part of the country. 

With this pipeline, it will be possible to bring 1,000,000 (one million) tonnes of diesel from India annually.

The country has a 75 MW power plant in Saidpur of Nilphamari. Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) has taken such initiatives to meet the needs of the Northern region, including the supply of fuel to the power plant.

BPC sources said that under the project, the government will work on setting up a pipeline from Shiliguri of West Bengal to Parbatipur in Dinajpur to bring diesel from Nomaligarh refinery of Assam. A 10-inch width and 130 km long pipe line will be constructed to bring fuel from Siliguri Marketing Terminal (SMT) to a Parbatipur depot in Dinajpur. Of these, part of India is 5 km and Bangladesh is 125 km.

Officials concerned said a memorandum of understanding was signed between Bangladesh and India. For this, BPC is going to undertake the project 'Acquisition of lands required for the Bangladesh-India Friendship Pipeline Project and development of other relevant facilities'. The total cost of the project will be Tk 308.56 crore. It will be implemented by June in 2021 period from now.

BPC sources said that the acquisition of 199.34 acres of land and Hukum Dokol of 134.12 acres of land in Panchagarh, Nilphamari and Dinajpur districts will be done for the construction of the pipeline and five tanks will be constructed in Parbatipur for conserving oil.

In addition, a Tap of Point will be set up in the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) to supply fuel at the power station in Saidpur. BPC will construct an 8-inch width and 7-km underground petroleum pipeline from Chirir port to Saidpur power plant.

For that, Bangladesh-India is going to jointly construct the oil pipeline. Bangladesh will work only on land acquisition. India will work on the rest of construction of the pipeline. A 130-km long pipeline will be built in Indian Grants, BPC Manager (Planning and Development) Engineer Mohammad Apple Mamun told Banglanews.

BDST: 1444 HRS, AUG 8, 2019
RS/SMS