Dhaka, Kathmandu begin talks on power trade
Bangladesh and Nepal are beginning a two-day meeting to discuss how to jointly take India on board for using Indian transmission lines to enable power trade between Nepal and Bangladesh.
The joint steering committee (JSC) and joint working committee (JWC) on Bangladesh-Nepal power and energy sector cooperation will be held today and tomorrow at the Payra power plant in Patuakhali, reported UNB, quoting the officials of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) as saying.
Ahead of the meetings, Nepalese Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud at a meeting in Dhaka on Saturday said Nepal holds the potential of about 60,000MW hydropower and India is investing there.
"We also welcome Bangladesh to invest in Nepal," he said at an event titled, "Realizing Energy Cooperation between Nepal and Bangladesh" at the Embassy of Nepal in Dhaka.
"We want to export power to Bangladesh from Nepal as there is an unlimited market," he said.
Responding to a question from reporters on impediments in cross-border transmission facilities, Narayan Prakash Saud said Nepal hoped to resolve the issue as the Nepalese prime minister is expected to visit India soon.
"We're discussing and negotiating with India to resolve the issue. India is now positive in this regard," he said.
Officials at the PDB told UNB, Bangladesh has the plan to import 500MW of electricity from Nepal where Indian company GMR Upper Karnali Hydropower is building a 900MW hydropower project. However, no breakthrough was made in resolving issues on transmission facilities due to the Indian lack of clearance.
As Nepal and Bangladesh are not geographically connected, Nepal can sell its electricity to Bangladesh only through the Indian territory.
"As India has started a green grids initiative -- One Sun One World One Grid -- to introduce a transnational electricity grid that supplies power and has a neighbourhood first policy, forging connectivity between Nepal and Bangladesh will help India's own initiative," Madhu Bhetuwal, spokesperson at Nepal's energy ministry told Kathmandu Post.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi first proposed the initiative during the assembly of the International Solar Alliance in 2018. The initiative aims at providing power to about 140 countries through a common grid that will ensure the transfer of clean and efficient solar power.
Nepal and India intend to widen collaboration in the power sector and include partner nations under the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal framework (BBIN), according to the Joint Vision Statement on Power Sector Cooperation between the two countries issued in April last year.
Another agenda of the discussion with the Bangladeshi side is to sell Nepal's 40MW-50MW of electricity to Bangladesh through the existing transmission line of India.
At a meeting in August last year, Nepal and Bangladesh decided to request India to allow the export of 40MW-50MW of electricity from Nepal to Bangladesh in the initial phase, by utilising the high-voltage Baharampur-Bheramara cross-border power transmission link.