United News of Bangladesh

The transmission of electricity from newly built Payra and Rampal plants over Padma River to Dhaka's Aminbazar has to wait for at least 7-8 months. Work on construction of a high voltage 400 kV double-circuit power transmission line to cross mighty river through Padma Bridge is yet to be completed. BPDB, meanwhile. counts huge financial loss. According to official sources, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) had undertaken the 164.6 km long Aminbazar-Maowa-Mongla transmission line project in 2016 at a cost of Tk 2505.37 crore. Also read: Another gas-fired rental power plant gets extension The most significant part of the project was the Padma River Crossing which remains incomplete because of the ongoing construction work of the Padma Bridge project.

Bangladesh’s power and energy sector has now moved into the second generation of problems where challenges have shifted from concerns of electricity production to pricing and energy mix issues. 

Experts at a webinar in the city on Saturday said the power utilities in Bangladesh are yet to earn the confidence of industrial consumers that the electricity supply is reliable.

Although the government has relaxed the shutdown, enforced to curb the transmission of coronavirus, from May 31, still uncertainty looms large over resuming the field level works in the power transmission projects across the country  due to upcoming monsoon .    “Now most of the ongoing projects will be delayed by at least a year as monsoon will start from July and field level works are not possible before the next winter”, said a top official of the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB).          Field-level work on 25 ongoing power transmission projects remained suspended since the coronavirus outbreak in China in December last year, hitting hard the power sector development.   According to official sources, most of these projects were either awarded to Chinese contractors or their equipment were supposed to come largely from China.    “Neither the Chinese workers, nor the equipment are coming from China since the pandemic started in Wuhan,” said Golam Kibria, managing director of PGCB.    He said many Chinese companies are working as subcontractors as well in Bangladesh’s power transmission sector.    The top PGCB official said although coronavirus situation in China has improved, Chinese officials and workers, especially the technicians, are not coming back as the virus situation in Bangladesh is worsening.    “Finding no way, we had to suspend the field-level works on the transmission projects,” he added.