Bangladesh will soon receive power from India, project in last stages
Srivastava emphasised that India’s revised cross-border electricity policy, which permits neighbouring countries to use its grid, has made a substantial shift in regional cooperation. The countries have signed an agreement for the transmission of 40 megawatts of power from Nepal to Bangladesh through the Indian grid.
Bangladesh will soon be connected to the Indian electrical grid and will receive power from it through Nepal, according to India’s Anurag Srivastava, Joint Secretary for North and former spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), during an event in Bengaluru on Friday, says The Economic Times.
Srivastava emphasised that India’s revised cross-border electricity policy, which permits neighbouring countries to use its grid, has made a substantial shift in regional cooperation. The countries have signed an agreement for the transmission of 40 megawatts of power from Nepal to Bangladesh through the Indian grid.
“The first such transaction with Bangladesh is in its final stages, with the agreement already signed, this trade is poised to become Nepal’s largest export over the next 5 to 7 years,” Srivastava highlighted. He was speaking on ‘India’s Neighbourhood First Policy Operations’ concerning Bhutan and Nepal, at an event organised by Synergia, a Bengaluru-based think tank.
The former MEA spokesperson noted that over the past three years significant progress has been achieved between India and Nepal making the power collaboration “one of the most critical developments in the economic relationship between the two countries.”
Srivastava reiterated that starting from zero megawatts just three years ago, the country has now reached 1,000 megawatts. “With a newly signed agreement, we are well on our way to scaling this up to 10,000 megawatts in the coming years.”
Discussing future plans, he noted that the Indian investments in power generation in the neighbouring country have now reached twice the installed capacity, signalling a robust energy partnership. “We are also enhancing transmission capacity to facilitate the export of this power.”
Speaking about trade infrastructure along the 1,751 km Nepal border and the 699 km Bhutan border, Srivastava noted that the Indian government has ramped up efforts to establish “one-stop shops,” which are multimodal connectivity points that have led to a significant boost in trade. “Along the Nepal border, the next set of three Integrated Check Posts (ICPs) is currently under development. For the India-Bhutan border, we are planning the first set of ICPs,” he said.
