Anisul Islam Noor :
The Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) will soon build the first-ever underground power sub-station in the country at Dhaka’s Karwanbazar.
After completing the project, the power supply in Dhaka is expected to develop significantly to 360 MVA for 132 KV and 150 MVA for 33 KV power transformers, sources said.
The underground power sub-station will help uninterrupted electricity supply despite storm or any other crisis and natural disasters.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project in March last year. The estimated cost of the project is Tk 950 crore to be funded by Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA).
Talking with the New Nation, DPDC’s Executive Director (operation) Harun-ur-Rashid said that Dhaka’s entire power supply system will be set in underground process gradually like the developed country.
“We have already placed the cables under the surface. Now we are thinking
of constructing all the sub-stations here,” he said. The Project Director and DPDC Chief Engineer (Planning) Shahidul Islam said, “The design is still underway. A Japanese company has been hired to make plan and design the total process.”
He said that they had also hired an architectural firm to design a high rise building on top of the substation.
DPDC has been supplying electricity to over 12 lakh subscribers in central part and southern area of Dhaka.
A power division official said, “We are forced to undertake the project as the higher level of the government instructed to install the power sub-stations in the capital underground.”
The power-distributing agencies have to spend nearly five times higher cost than project costs for the overhead sub-station installation schemes. Usually, we shall install overhead substations in Bangladesh, the official said.
He said underground sub-station is highly technical done by few developed Asian countries like Japan and Singapore.
Such underground sub-station installation is not financially viable at this moment in Bangladesh as it is too expensive to build, he said.
However, finance division official said, Bangladesh is still in need of investment in profit oriented sector as a lower income country, the ambitious and highly cost-intensive projects like underground power-substation installation will be a distant dream.
Only financially and economically viable priority projects should be taken first instead of the dream projects, he said.
He said that if only two underground substations required Tk 950 crore, how DESCO and DPDC would set up their nearly 40 substations in underground across the capital.
The Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) will soon build the first-ever underground power sub-station in the country at Dhaka’s Karwanbazar.
After completing the project, the power supply in Dhaka is expected to develop significantly to 360 MVA for 132 KV and 150 MVA for 33 KV power transformers, sources said.
The underground power sub-station will help uninterrupted electricity supply despite storm or any other crisis and natural disasters.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project in March last year. The estimated cost of the project is Tk 950 crore to be funded by Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA).
Talking with the New Nation, DPDC’s Executive Director (operation) Harun-ur-Rashid said that Dhaka’s entire power supply system will be set in underground process gradually like the developed country.
“We have already placed the cables under the surface. Now we are thinking
of constructing all the sub-stations here,” he said. The Project Director and DPDC Chief Engineer (Planning) Shahidul Islam said, “The design is still underway. A Japanese company has been hired to make plan and design the total process.”
He said that they had also hired an architectural firm to design a high rise building on top of the substation.
DPDC has been supplying electricity to over 12 lakh subscribers in central part and southern area of Dhaka.
A power division official said, “We are forced to undertake the project as the higher level of the government instructed to install the power sub-stations in the capital underground.”
The power-distributing agencies have to spend nearly five times higher cost than project costs for the overhead sub-station installation schemes. Usually, we shall install overhead substations in Bangladesh, the official said.
He said underground sub-station is highly technical done by few developed Asian countries like Japan and Singapore.
Such underground sub-station installation is not financially viable at this moment in Bangladesh as it is too expensive to build, he said.
However, finance division official said, Bangladesh is still in need of investment in profit oriented sector as a lower income country, the ambitious and highly cost-intensive projects like underground power-substation installation will be a distant dream.
Only financially and economically viable priority projects should be taken first instead of the dream projects, he said.
He said that if only two underground substations required Tk 950 crore, how DESCO and DPDC would set up their nearly 40 substations in underground across the capital.
