ADB grants $200m loan to upgrade Dhaka power network

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $200 million loan to modernise and strengthen the power distribution network in the peri-urban areas surrounding Dhaka, aiming to improve the reliability, efficiency and resilience of electricity supplies to businesses and households.

The Power Distribution Network Enhancement Project will support the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) in upgrading distribution infrastructure across 13 Palli Bidyut Samities (PBSs), or electric cooperatives, serving rapidly expanding industrial and urban areas around Dhaka, according to an ADB press release.

The project will address overloaded substations, ageing infrastructure, power losses and rising natural hazard risks that are affecting electricity services in key growth areas.

“As Bangladesh advances its vision of becoming a more prosperous, resilient, and globally competitive economy, modern power distribution networks will be essential to sustaining growth, creating more jobs, and attracting investment,” said ADB Country Director for Bangladesh Qingfeng Zhang.

The project will install 1,150 megavolt-amperes of new transformer capacity across 52 substations and increase the capacity of 12 existing substations by 115 megavolt-amperes.

It will also construct or upgrade more than 2,600 kilometres of overhead and underground distribution lines and install insulated conductors to improve network reliability, efficiency and safety.

To improve system operations, the project will build river-crossing transmission structures and switching stations and deploy 900 fault locator sets to enable faster fault detection and restoration of electricity services.