S Asian power cooperation holds great potential

South Asian sub-regional cooperation in power sector holds huge potential with at least two projects being under discussion, Syed Muazzem Ali, Bangladesh high commissioner to India, said yesterday.

 He said a 1,125 megawatt hydropower project in Bhutan and a similar one in Nepal were being discussed involving Bangladesh and India. Besides, a memorandum of understanding was signed between India's private infrastructure behemoth GMR Group and Bangladesh in April, 2017 for import of 500 MW of power from Nepal through India, said Ali.

He was addressing an international conference on “India's Energy Security: Inter-regional Cooperation to Energy Security Society” at the Centre for South Asian Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The envoy said energy sector cooperation was the hallmark in renewed engagements between Bangladesh and India and “there is a positive momentum in cooperation...and the achievements so far have been highly encouraging”. It went “far beyond a strategic partnership”, touching upon “virtually all areas of human endeavour”, he said.

Currently, Bangladesh's power import from India stands at 1,160 MW.

India and Bangladesh are now cooperating in renewable energy and nuclear power sectors, said Ali.