The Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh today jointly inaugurated, through video conferencing, supply of 100 mega watts of power from India (Tripura) to Bangladesh (Comilla) and 100 GBPS broadband internet from Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar) to India (Agartala). Remarks were made on this occasion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Mr Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Manik Sircar, Chief Minister of Tripura.
The supply of power from Tripura is in accordance with the decision of the 7th Joint Steering Commitee/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 Government of Bangladesh in allowing the transport of over-dimensional cargo during the construction of the Palatana The Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh today jointly inaugurated, through video conferencing, supply of 100 mega watts of power from India (Tripura) to Bangladesh (Comilla) and 100 GBPS broadband internet from Bangladesh (Cox’s Bazar) to India (Agartala). Remarks were made on this occasion by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Mr Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Manik Sircar, Chief Minister of Tripura.
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 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.
Later, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal joined the video conference from Comilla where Railways Minister Muzibul Haque was also present.
The supply of power from Tripura is in accordance with the decision of the 7th Joint Steering Commitee/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 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 finalized at the joint technical committee meeting held during the visit of the Power Minister of Tripura to Dhaka on January 9,2015. 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, says a press release of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
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 has 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, the press release said.
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, the Indian High Commission press release added.
