DHAKA: The inauguration of 500-megawatt Bangladesh-India Power Transmission Center is going to be held at Bheramara in Kushtia on Saturday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian PM Manmohan Singh will jointly switch on their respective sides of the grid through a teleconference for the first time.

Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister, made the announcement in his office through a press briefing on Thursday.

Moreover Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu and State Minister for Power and Energy Muhammad Enamul Huq were also present there in the press briefing.

Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said the government has a plan to provide 40,000-megawatt electricity by 2030. Then we will be able to export electricity, he added.

However MPs and other officials will be present at the inaugural ceremony on Saturday.

Earlier on Friday, Bangladesh started the test import of power from India aiming to improve the country’s power crisis situation.

The test run will continue till September 29 and the formal import of electricity will start on October 5, said sources.

On February 28 last year, the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Indian NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd ( NVVN), a subsidiary of India`s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), inked a deal to import 250 MW of electricity, following up on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed during Sheikh Hasina`s 2010 visit to New Delhi.

The only hitch in the progress of the transmission line, which will have a capacity to wheel 500-MW of electricity, is a right-of-way problem encountered at a single location in West Bengal, where a foundation and tower are to be set up.

Bangladesh has also reiterated its readiness to pick up equity in joint venture hydroelectric projects in India’s North Eastern states, especially Arunachal Pradesh, and has furnished a list of jointly implement able hydro power projects in the region.

BDST: 1525 HRS, OCT 03, 2013
MIR/AIA/RS/JCK [email protected]