The Power Development Board (PDB) of Sylhet has taken up a mammoth task of bringing all the 13 upazilas in District under cent percent electrification. While observing ‘Electrification Week’ next, ‘the complete electrification has been materialised in Sylhet Sadar Upazila’- a formal declaration will be made on November 17 next, says PDB Sylhet Source.
Meanwhile, in order to supply power uninterruptedly throughout Beanibazar, Golapgonj, Zakigonj, Khanaighat upazilas, a grid station with the cost of Tk. 100 crore is going to be established at Charkhai, 36 kilometres east from Sylhet City. The establishment of grid station will be completed by 2017.
In Sylhet, District PDB and Rural Electrification Board (REB) jointly supply power in Sylhet District. PDB supplies the metropolitan city and district towns Sunamgonj, Moulvibazar and Habigonj, but REB supplies power to the rest of the district. Sometimes there has been tussle between PDB and REB over load management. Eight Upazilas of Sylhet district have been covered by Rural Electrification Board. It can be mentioned here that two boards- Power Development Board (PDB) and Rural Electrification Board (REB) are entrusted with the responsibility of supplying electricity all over Sylhet District. As per vision-2021, cent percent electricity supply target has been earmarked by both PDB and REB, Sylhet Chapters. For this 80,000 more consumers will come up under The Power Supply, say both PDB and REB officials.
As per REB, Sylhet-1, source, a master plan has been formulated to supply electricity in all eight upazilas under Rural Electrification Board (REB). Under this master plan, Fenchugonj, South Surma, Beanibazar and Bishwanath Upazilas will also be brought under electrification by June 2017, Gulapgonj and Balagonj Upazilas will be covered by June 2018, Zakigonj and Osmaninagar Upazilas of the district will come under REB by 2018. In those 8 upazilas, there are 2,50,000 consumers and they constitute 85% of the total population. So, covering the remainder of the population will constitute 35,000-40,000 consumers more.
Meanwhile, according to REB, Sylhet-2 source, it has been learnt that entire Sylhet Sadar Upazila will come under cent percent electrification by November, 2017.
Besides, within 2017, Frontier Upazila Zaintiapur and Companigonj will be covered under electrification. Moreover, Kanighat and Gowaighat Upazilas will come under electrification in 2018.
Meanwhile, a project has been taken up for renovation of supply lines throughout Sylhet District. Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) will install an 80 MBA grid station at Charkhai, under Beanibazar Upazila in Sylhet in order to boost power supply in all Zakigonj, Beanibazar and Kanaighat Upazilas in the district. Side by side transmission line and tower or pylons will also be installed under this Tk. 100 Crore project.
According to sources, power supply is being continued through Fenchugonj and Kumargaon grids throughout Sylhet and Sunamgonj districts. Kumargoan grid has become over loaded by this time. The Kumargoan grid cannot afford 60 megawatts. With the Shajahan Ullah Power Generation Grid, 25 MW are being transmitted in all eight upazilas in the district. If any one of those grids fails, the most areas in Sylhet plunges into darkness.
For this, in order to ensure uninterrupted supply, 11 new substations and two switching centres will be installed. They are at Alinagar Jaldup of Beanibazar, Bhadeshwar-Bhaga and Ragunathpur of Golapgonj, Balagonj Sadar and Sadipur under Balagonj Upazila, Nasiorpur of South Surma, Rashidpur of Bishwanath, Palbari Grid attached switching station of Fenchugonj and South Surma Head quarters attached switching station of South Surma. Sylhet Divisional project 1.8 mccp, 1.5 million mccp, under World Bank financial assistance in UREDS (Upgradation of Rural Electrical Distribution System) all substations and Switching Stations will be built. There are 14 Sub-Stations working in the district.
Rural Electrification Board (REB) Sylhet-1, Senior General Manager Engineer Md. Mahbubul Alam told this Correspondent, ‘We want to ensure uninterrupted power supply to consumers within our jurisdiction of REB, Sylhet-1. For this, a number of projects have been taken and they are being continued. He continued, as Kumargoan Grid has become overloaded, interruption occurs in transmission line time and again. If the Grid Station at Charkhai, Beanibazar will come into being by 2017, there will be no such problem in transmission and distribution of power to consumers. In reply to another question, the Senior GM said, ‘The gridline installed across the Surma has got too old and overloaded. In order to overcome the difficulty, nearly 2.5 Crore taka have been earmarked to install a 33-KV, a third circuit at the cost of Tk. 2.50 Crore have been earmarked.’ Mr. Alam said all the upazilas in Sylhet will come under cent percent electrification by 2018.
Sylhet REB-2, General Manager Dilip Chandra Sarker said, by 2018, the remaining 5 upazilas will come under cent percent electrification.
‘Now the number of consumers under REB Sylhet-1 is 1,02,000’ Mr. Ratan Kumar further said, ‘From 8 electricity generating plants, more or less 1200 megawatts are produced but the demand in Sylhet is 390-400 MW of which hardly 350 MW are transmitted in Sylhet.
