Power line route from Tripura finalised

Bangladeshi and Indian experts have drawn up a power transmission line route from Suryamaninagar (north-east India) to southern Comilla.

The meeting, held in Agartala, the capital of the Indian state of Tripura, decided on the route of the 52 km transmission line to be constructed to send 100 MW from the 726 MW thermal power plant at Palatana in Bangladesh’s Gomati.

The team also explored possibilities of setting up a transmission line from Tripura to mainland India through Bangladesh.

The exact entry point from Tripura to Bangladesh will be fixed after a spot survey by a joint team but both countries, meanwhile, have decided to avoid human habitations, forest, and vital installations for erecting transmission towers.

It was decided that power would be sent from the Suryamaninagar power sub-station to Comilla through Konaban.

Chowdhury Alamgir Hossain, Director of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh and the leader of the country’s delegation, said the first of three options had been finalised.

He, however, added the route had to be fine-tuned. “For that, we will have to go to the location. We will go there and decide on the exact crossing.”

The transmission line would stretch for 24 km within India and for 27 km inside Bangladesh, he said.

The transmission line will cost Tk 50 million per kilometre in Bangladesh, Hossain said.

He also said the possibility of having a transmission line passing through Bangladesh to link the hilly north-eastern India was being explored.

Such a line would also benefit Bangladesh, according to him.

Md Mizanur Rahman, chief engineer of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, was also present.

MK Chowdhury, Director Technical, Tripura State Electrical Corporation Ltd (TSECL) said the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) would draw the line on the Indian side. The project cost is yet to be ascertained.

He said the government of Tripura had suggested to the central government the laying of transmission lines from Tripura to West Bengal through Bangladesh and that the matter was being considered by the two countries.

Such a project would benefit Bangladesh as well, he added but did not say how.

Other officials of the Ministry of Power of India, PGCL, BPDB and TSECL including its Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) SK Roy were present at the meeting.

India began supplying 250 MW of power to Bangladesh last year after the PDB and India's NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN), a subsidiary of NTPC, signed a deal on Feb 28, 2012.

The agreement was inked during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010.

To provide power to Bangladesh, a 400 KV switching station has been set up at Baharampur in West Bengal. The cross-border inter-connection has been established between Baharampur and Bherhamara in Kushtia.