News Desk :
The government has initiated a move to implement a Tk 2,272.47 crore project to increase the power distribution capacity of Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited in a bid to ensure sustainable and reliable power supply to its clients.
DESCO under the power division will implement the project titled ‘Dhaka Power System Expansion and Strengthening Project in DESCO Areas’ by December 2025, reports BSS.
‘This draft project is scheduled to be placed before the meeting of the Executive Committee of The National Economic Council on Tuesday’, said a planning commission official.
ECNEC chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will preside over the meeting.
The planning commission official informed that out of the total project cost of Tk 2,272.47 crore, the government will provide Taka 446.50 crore, the Asian Development Bank will provide Tk 1,231.54 crore as loan while the rest of Tk 594.42 crore will come from the concerned organisation’s own fund.
Member of the planning commission AKM Fazlul Haque said that under the project, about two lakh new power connections would be provided in the project areas while reliable power supply would be ensured for the existing consumers.
‘Once the project is implemented, system loss will be reduced to a big extent while it will also be possible to meet the growing demand in the industrial and densely populated project areas’, he said.
Fazlul Haque also informed that the capacity of the existing power sub stations would be increased through reorganisation of power load side by side, while the power distribution capacity of 33KV voltage level would be upgraded to 720/1080 MVA while that of the 11KV voltage level to 595 MVA.
The project area covers Airport in Uttara, Bashundhara, Mirpur Ceramics, Mirpur Swapnagar Residential Area, Baridhara, Rupayan City in Uttara, Tongi under Gazipur City Corporation and Purbachal
under Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj district.
Another official at the planning commission said that about 400 kilometer areas under Dhaka North City Corporation, Tongi and Purbachal in Narayanganj were under the jurisdiction of DESCO.
‘Since these areas are densely populated and industry-prone, the demand of power is growing day by day there. Under the existing power distribution system, most of the power substations and distribution lines are overloaded. As a result, low voltage problem is often seen at the consumer level while the intensity of system loss also increases’, the official added.
The official also said that once the project is implemented, it would be possible to ensure reliable and uninterrupted power supply through strengthening the power distribution network and reducing system loss at the clients’ level.
The main project operations include establishment of four 132/33/11 KV GIS grid substations and another four 33/11 KV GIS distribution sub stations, erection of 30 kilometer 132 KV (double circuit) underground transmission line, erection of 150 circuit kilometer 11 KV and 33 KV underground line, overhauling of 150 kilometer overhead power distribution network, installation of 100 11 KV Ring Main Unit (RMU), installation of 750 three phase 11/0.4 KV distribution transformers and installation of another 70 single phase 11/0.23 KV distribution transformers.
