Anisul Islam Noor :
Bangladesh will import 100MW of electricity from Tripura and export 10gbps of bandwidth to the Indian state from March 23, officials said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Premier Narendra Modi are expected to jointly inaugurate the bilateral trade through a video conference on the day.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has asked the Power Division and Posts and Telecommunications Division to take necessary preparations in this regard.
“We are preparing to start importing 100MW of electricity from Tripura from March 23,” Additional Power Division Secretary Dr Ahmed Kaikaus told The New Nation on Monday.
Monwar Hossain, Managing Director of Bangladesh Submarine Cables Company Limited (BSCCL) said, “Bangladesh will start exporting 10gbps of bandwidth to Tripura from the same day.”
“Tripura government is set to supply 100 MW of electricity to Bangladesh under no-electricity, no-payment method. We have already fixed the price with the Tripura government at Tk 6.43 per unit,” Director General of Power Cell Mohammad Hossain said.
The electricity will be imported from southern Tripura’s Palatana Power Plant. Bangladesh is now importing 250 MW of electricity from Indian public-sector plants at Tk 3.56 per unit, and another 250MW from Indian private power plants at Tk 4.36 per unit. The government has already installed a 54-km transmission line between Comilla and Tripura to transmit the electricity.
BSCCL has already set up necessary infrastructure at Agartala in India for exporting the bandwidth. The company will earn $100,000 per month from the bandwidth export.
