DOT Desk: The State Grid Corporation of China commonly known as the ‘State Grid’ offered the Bangladesh government to share China-Myanmar-Bangladesh electricity grid line to take advantage of Myanmar’s hydropower, reports The Daily Observer.
“Yes, we received an offer letter from China. We also visited Myanmar in this connection. We will sit to discuss the issue,” Senior Secretary of the Power Division Dr Ahmed Kaikuas told. He said it will be a 1200-km-long grid line. “We need to discuss many issues but at first we should go for a survey here.” Power Division official said Bangladesh needs around 40,000 MW of electricity to make the country a developed one. It is searching for the cheapest rate of electricity in different neighboring countries. “In line with this plan, we are importing 660MW of electricity from India and agreed to import another 60MW of electricity from Indian state of Tripura,” the official said. Bangladesh and India have already agreed to trade 500MW additional power through the second Indo-Bangla grid line to be commenced in the middle of 2018 and are searching for the option to import hydroelectricity from Nepal and Bhutan,” he added.
Earlier, Chinese Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization proposed to supply 3,000MW electricity to Bangladesh through the Myanmar power grid.
The Chinese firm proposed to export the electricity for a 15-year period, officials said.
The government has advanced the process to import 1,000MW hydro-power from Myanmar and China to meet up the future electricity demands, according to Power Division officials.
The government earlier sought to import power from Myanmar but the neighboring country rejected the idea.