The scarcity of land for setting up new substations is impeding a move of Dhaka Electric Supply Company Ltd (Desco) to improve the power supply system in the city two posh areas — Gulshan and Banani.
According to official sources, Desco, the state-owned power entity entrusted with the responsibility of power distribution in northwestern areas of the city, undertook a move more than two years ago to improve the electricity supply in different areas. However, its move experienced a major setback when it proceeded with four projects to set up three local and one grid substations at Gulshan and Banani.
The officials said the planned grid substation needs about 2 bighas (about 66 decimals) of land while each of the local substations (33/11 kV) requires at least 16 katha (26 decimals) of lands. Desco hardly found any private or public land to install the large apparatus earnestly needed for improvement of power supply in the city’s most posh areas where diplomatic enclaves are located as well.
“Desco repeatedly appealed to both private land owners and public entities to provide lands for the planned substations. It wants to purchase the lands at current rate. But, unfortunately none shows any interest to provide any land,” said Chief Engineer (planning) of the organisation Habibur Rahman.
Even, Dhaka North City Corporation also failed to provide any land for the electricity establishment, he noted. He said the Desco finally appealed to Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), the organisation entrusted with the responsibility of the capital city and also the land developer of the two posh areas.
Sources said the Rajuk outright expressed its inability to provide any land in the areas. Desco placed names of some vacant lands including some portions of a newly created public park and playgrounds under the Rajuk authority.
But during meetings between two organisations, Rajuk refused to allocate the proposed lands on plea of a court order, said a Desco official. Officials said at present Desco has three substations at Gulshan and Banani having supply capacity of about 170 MW power. The Desco forecast that the electricity demand in the two areas will go up to about 500 MW by 2020 with fast growing high-rise apartments and commercial buildings there.
They said the Desco took up the three projects for setting up substations to meet the future demand. They also noted that applications of over 100 new multistoried commercial buildings remained pending with the Desco for its inability for expansion of the electricity system due to lack of substations. -UNB
