Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh will be visiting India in April this year. For this, preparatory meetings are afoot in both Dhaka and Delhi. And this bilateral visit both sides have been looking forward to. Indo-Bangla relation is a strong pillar of Modi government’s ‘Neighborhood First’ doctrine of foreign policy and an important showcase of economic diplomacy. In this issue we bring to you a catalogue of important projects that are being developed by the Indian companies both PSUs and top private companies in the power and hydrocarbon sectors.
The story has important graphs and maps which our readers will find useful.
Based on growth assumptions Bangladesh drew up a power master plan with peak demand projections. But because assumptions have not been fulfilled, the demand projections were scaled down. The power sector in Bangladesh faces the challenges of old and de-rated plants, lot of gas-based plants but inadequate domestic gas to meet power demand and too little coal production. And the Indian partnership is focusing on addressing these deficits. The 1,320 MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project, a jv between NTPC and BPDB is 100 per cent funded by India’s Exim Bank and the 100 per cent beneficiary of this project will be Bangladesh. Similarly Private Power Developers are developing coal based and re-gasified LNG projects.
India has also undertaken transmission projects to export power to Bangladesh. A cross border electrical grid interconnection between India and Bangladesh was commissioned in 2013, through which 500 MW power is being supplied to Bangladesh. Export was augmented further with the commissioning of transmission line from Tripura, the export from which was jointly inaugurated by PM Modi and Bangladesh PM in March 2016. Several other cross border interconnections will be completed by June 2017 and cater to Bangladesh’s requests for more power. The power ministry has also framed guidelines and created the policy framework for export and import of power in the SAARC region.
In the hydrocarbon sector, Indian oil PSUs, OVL and Oil India have exploration contracts. Indian HSD supplies to Bangladesh from the Numaligarh Refinery were formalized during PM Modi’s visit to that country as also the construction of a 135 km pipeline. There is also the friendship pipeline agreement between the two countries that will enable Piped Gas networks in the north-eastern states of India. Then there are many gas terminal projects in different stages of progress. For details, read our cover story.
