Bangladesh allows India corridor to build power line to seven sisters

Bangladesh has granted permission to India to build a corridor through Dinajpur to construct a power transmission line from Katihar in Bihar to Bornagar in Assam to supply electricity to the seven sister states.

The Power Transmission corridor will be jointly built by the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh and its Indian counterpart.

Bangladesh gave the permission at the 21st Joint Steering Committee's meeting with India on power sector cooperation on Thursday.

At the meeting, it has been agreed that a tripartite power purchase agreement (PPA) would be concluded soon between Nepal, India, and Bangladesh to facilitate the transfer of 500MW of cross-border electricity from Nepal's 900MW Upper Karnali hydropower project, which will be developed by India's GMR Group, said a member of the Bangladesh team who attended the meeting.

The meeting was led by Bangladesh Power Division Secretary Md Habibur Rahman and Indian Power Secretary Alok Kumar.

Bangladesh has planned to import electricity from this project in 2026. However, the exact rate of per unit power has not yet been disclosed.

Sources at the Power Division have stated that Bangladesh initially opposed the construction of the power transmission corridor due to concerns over security, operation, maintenance, and geographical issues.

India's plans to supply electricity from hydropower projects in Meghalaya raised concerns for Bangladesh, as it is a lower riparian country.

Furthermore, according to regulatory provisions, the licensee of another country is not allowed to construct transmission lines across the territory of Bangladesh.

PGCB is the only authority to implement transmission system in Bangladesh.

As a result of these concerns, India has agreed to partner with PGCB to construct the transmission line within Bangladesh's territory, according to the source.

On this ground, Bangladesh has agreed to allow India build the lines.

The Joint Steering Committee also discussed the implementation of a hydropower project in Bhutan through a tripartite investment between Bangladesh, Bhutan, and India.

Nepal has an estimated hydropower potential of around 80,000MW, but the country currently only has the capacity to produce around 2,000MW. Since 2019, Nepal has been exporting power to India at a rate of six Indian rupees per unit.

At present, Bangladesh imports 1,160MW of power from India through the Baharampur-Bheramara and Tripura-Cumilla cross-border grid lines.

Bangladesh aims to increase the share of imported electricity in its energy mix up to 40% by 2041, when the total generation capacity will reach 60,000MW. 

Currently, 52% of Bangladesh's electricity is generated from natural gas, 32% from liquid fuel, and 8% from coal, with the remaining 8% coming from imports.