Hydro-power company soon

The government now plans setting up a company to tap hydro-power sources, local and foreign.
The company, Hydro Power Generation Company, will look to import electricity from the hydro-power plants in high altitude countries like Nepal and Bhutan.
"We have been working on the issue for the last one year," Mohammad Hossain, Director General of Power Cell, told the Daily Observer on Wednesday.
This will be the first-ever company in the country to generate and import hydro-power, according to the Power Division.
Power Division is examining the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bhutan on such import. However, there is no progress on Nepal side.
A joint working group, comprising officials of Bangladesh, India and Bhutan, earlier had decided to prepare a framework for hydroelectric joint ventures in Bhutan.
Bangladesh is weighing a deal with Bhutan to invest around US$1billion in hydropower in the landlocked country to re-import the electricity, officials said. It's part of a regional power trade.
 "We are now working on the draft of the MoU sent by Bhutan," a Power Division official said.
The 230MW Karnafuli Hydroelectric Power Station, built in 1962, is currently the only major source of hydro-power in Bangladesh.
To harness the potentiality of hydro electricity of Bangladesh, the Power Cell asked an US consultancy firm to conduct a study in this regard. The study revealed that two rivers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts could potentially generate 79 megawatt (MW). It said that 58.33MW power can be generated from the Sangu River and 20.83MW from the Matamuhuri River.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has already completed preliminary talks with Bhutan as well as neighbouring India to facilitate import of hydroelectricity through Indian territories. Currently, India has electricity connectivity with Bhutan. India has invested in hydropower project in Bhutan before importing electricity.
The government has opted for electricity import from neighbouring countries to diversify the country's energy sources and enhance the country's overall electricity-generation capacity to 20,000 MW by 2021 and to 40,000 MW by 2030 under a master plan.