Staff Reporter :
The Bangladesh-India cooperation has advanced forward another step as the Prime Ministers of both the countries on Wednesday inaugurated supply of 100MW electricity from Tripura of India to Comilla of Bangladesh and leasing of 10 GBPS internet bandwidth from Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar) to India (Agartala).
The two leaders jointly inaugurated the supply of 100 MW electricity and leasing of 10 GBPS internet by pressing buttons through video conferencing.
Sheikh Hasina joined the video conference from her official residence at Ganobhaban while Narendra Modi joined it from his office in New Delhi.
Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar also joined the video conference from Agartala. Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sircar spoke on the occasion.
Later, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal joined the video conference from Comilla where Railway Minister Muzibul Haque was also present.
The supply of power from Tripura is in accordance with the decision of the 7th joint steering committee, joint working group on power (Dhaka, April 2014) to explore the possibility of supply of 100 MW of power from Tripura following the goodwill gesture of the government of Bangladesh in allowing the transport of over-dimensional cargo during the construction of the Palatana Power Plant in Tripura in 2011. Discussions on the pricing were finalised at the joint technical committee meeting held during the visit of the Power Minister of Tripura to Dhaka on 9th January 2015.
PGCIL has erected 400 KV d/c line from Suryamaninagar(Agartala) to the Indian border while the Bangladesh side of the transmission line from the India-Bangladesh border to Comilla has been built by Powergrid Corporation of Bangladesh Ltd.
An agreement between Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL) for leasing of international bandwidth for internet at Akhaura was signed in June 2015 during the visit of the Prime Minister of India to Bangladesh.
BSCCL has laid the optical fibre cable for the 30 km distance from Brahmanbaria to Akhaura, which adjoins Agartala, while BSNL has set up International Long Distance (ILD) gateway at Agartala along with associated equipment. India is already supplying 500 MW of power to Bangladesh through the Bahrampur-Bheramara inter-connection. The supply of another 500 MW through the same interconnection was also announced during the visit of PM Modi to Dhaka last year.
In addition, NTPC of India and BPDB of Bangladesh have entered into a joint venture (BIFPCL) for commissioning of the 1320 MW Rampal Power Project for which BHEL of India has been recently identified as EPC contractor.
Sub-regional cooperation in the power, energy and other sectors between India and Bangladesh has intensified significantly in the recent years with many private and public sector initiatives for cooperation also on the anvil.
Bangladesh and Tripura have historically shared a special relationship. Both these projects add value to this special relationship and are symbolic of a win-win partnership for the two countries.
The power connectivity adds another successful chapter to the existing bilateral cooperation in the power sector by addressing power shortages in the southeastern part of Bangladesh. The internet bandwidth export will enable reliable and fast internet connectivity for the people of Tripura as well as the north eastern region of India.
Prime Minister’s advisers HT Imam, Dr Moshiur Rahman, Dr Tawfique-e-Elahi Chowdhury, and Dr Gowher Rizvi, State Ministers Nasul Hamid Bipu, M Shahriar Alam, Tarana Halim, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, PM’s Principal Secretary Md Abul Kalam Azad and secretaries concerned were present at Ganobhaban.
