Tri-nation hydel power pact soon

Bangladesh, India and Bhutan have agreed to form a Joint Venture Company (JVC) to develop a hydropower plant in Bhutan to produce 1225 MW of electricity in near future to meet the growing energy demand.
Previously, Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan were under this umbrella. But finally Nepal withdrew itself from this project.
However, the policymakers of the rest three countries have once again endorsed the idea recently, according to the Power Division.
"We, the officials of these three countries, are set to sit in New Delhi on January 30 to discuss the issue and we are eager to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard," Power Division Secretary Dr Ahmed Kaikaus told the     Daily Observer on Monday.
Bangladesh initially conceived an idea to develop a hydropower project in Bhutan to import electricity from the Himalayan nation as part of its strategy to outsource energy sources to meet its electricity demand, according to the Power Division.
The Power Division Secretary along with his team are set to fly to India on January 29 to kick off the dialogue and fix up the modality of the JVC.
According to official sources, the three nations have already completed initial discussions to sign a MoU to go ahead with the proposed power project Kuri-1, which will be set up with investments of all the three South Asian nations.
According to the Bhutanese media, by 2020 Bhutan is planning to produce 10,000 MW of electricity from its hydro resources. As per agreement with India, Bhutan will export the whole amount to India.
"Aiming to produce 6,300 MW of electricity from the hydro resources, Bhutan is installing 10 hydro power projects in different parts of the country with the technical and financial support of India. Bhutan is also working on producing 15,000 MW more from hydropower," the official said.
Bangladesh first placed its proposal to Bhutan when its Economic Minister visited Dhaka in 2016.
The Bhutanese minister instantly accepted the offer. But he suggested that Dhaka discuss the matter with India to get its support required for power transmission from Bhutan to Bangladesh through Indian territory. However, India will not allow any such idea as its new guideline on power exchange or power trading does not support it.
Official sources said as per Bhutanese suggestion, Dhaka discussed the issue with New Delhi.
Specially, State Minister Nasrul Hamid discussed the issue with Indian top level policymaking authorities when he visited India last year.
Primarily, Indian policymakers agreed with Dhaka's proposal and expressed their interest to get involved in any such move to set up joint venture power plant.
After getting New Delhi's positive note, Dhaka prepared a MoU in this regard and sent it to Thimphu and New Delhi for their endorsement.
"Thimphu has already endorsed the proposed MoU and Dhaka is now waiting for New Delhi's consent," a senior official of the power division said. Power Division officials said officials at Indian Power Ministry have verbally informed Dhaka that their government has endorsed the agreement.
"We've been communicated by officials at New Delhi that the Indian authorities have given consent to the MoU," said Mohammad Hossain, Director General of the Power Cell.
Power Division Secretary Kaikaus said Bangladesh is eagerly waiting to sign the MoU to move forward its idea to set up power plants in Bhutan and import it to the country.