Despite an understanding among Bangladesh, Nepal and India, state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) still cannot import electricity from the Himalayan nation. On August 28 this year, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid had said that import of hydropower from Nepal was almost final. It seems unlikely that the power trade will happen before November. That means, Bangladesh will not get the opportunity to export its surplus electricity to Nepal during peak demand season in winter in the Himalayan nation. Electricity demand decreases during winter in Bangladesh while it increases in Nepal. According to official sources, after a long discussion at political and bureaucratic levels among the countries, India finally agreed to allow Bangladesh to initially import 40 MW electricity from Nepal. The import was supposed to start between August and September 2023, but negotiation on tariff remained incomplete. Sources said the decision to start the import of 40 MW power from Nepal was finalised in a two-day meeting of the joint steering committee (JSC) and joint working committee (JWC) on Bangladesh-Nepal power and energy sector cooperation on May 14-15 this year at Patuakhali in Bangladesh. Ahead of the meeting, Nepalese Foreign Minister Narayan Prakash Saud visited Dhaka and held a meeting with Bangladeshi public and private sector officials where he urged them to invest in the hydropower sector in the Himalayan nation, holding about 60,000 MW of clean energy potentials. Read: Power tariff raised again by 5 percent at retail level, effective from Wednesday After the meeting at Nepalese Embassy in Dhaka, Saud had told UNB that he was expecting all issues to be resolved during the Nepalese prime minister’s visit to India – to facilitate Nepal’s export of electricity to Bangladesh. In the follow-up, according to a report of the Kathmandu Post, during the Nepalese prime minister’s India visit (May 30-June 1), India agreed to facilitate Nepal to export 40 MW electricity to Bangladesh through Indian transmission infrastructure. India also made an announcement to buy 10,000 MW electricity from Nepal over the next 10 years. According to a recent report of The Kathmandu Post, “The Bangladeshi side has notified Nepal that they are seeking clearance from the political authorities on the agreement reached between the two sides at the bureaucratic level,” said Kul Man Ghising, managing director of the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA). “We are awaiting a final response from the Bangladeshi side to move on to tariff negotiation,” he added. NEA officials said that the two sides have concluded discussion on everything except tariff at the bureaucratic level. Read: Adani Power team likely to visit Bangladesh to discuss coal price, power tariff Power Cell Director General Mohammad Hossain said that he is not aware of the latest situation in this regard. He, however, noted that all necessary arrangements have been made for the cross-border power trade from both Bangladesh and Nepal sides. He said that 40 MW electricity was to be imported through Baharampur-Bheramara transmission lines which have enough capacity to import electricity from Nepal through Indian territory. Sources said under the planned arrangement, Bangladesh will import electricity from Nepal through an Indian company as a service provider which will first import electricity from Nepal through Indian transmission line and then sell it to Bangladesh. They said Bangladesh and Nepal prefer a tripartite or regional agreement while India wants bilateral deal in this regard. Explaining the matter, they said, if Bangladesh wants to import power from Nepal, it has to first sign a deal with India, not directly with Nepal. Then Nepal will sign a separate deal with India. Each deal will be on bilateral basis, and then a trilateral agreement among the three nations will be signed to facilitate the cross-border power trade. Read more: Hike in retail power tariff is less than in developed countries: Info Minister Currently, Bangladesh is importing electricity from India through a similar arrangement where the Indian company NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (NVVN) is selling power to BPDB. In case of electricity trade between Dhaka and Kathmandu, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) will have to sign agreements with both NVVN and BPDB. Apart from the 40 MW import plan, Bangladesh wants to import 500 MW of hydroelectricity from Nepal via Indian company GMR. Also read: Retail power tariff hiked 5% to Tk0.19 per unit for lifeline consumers, Tk0.36 on average for others Officials said Bangladesh and Nepal are still pursuing India to sign the tripartite deal to facilitate the sub-regional power trade among the three nations.

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has offered to Nepal the use of its newly constructed Payra port during a meeting with her Nepalese counterpart Pushpa Kamal Dahal. The two visiting ministers met at newly opened Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room in the FAO Headquarters on the sideline of the UN Food Systems Summit. Both leaders are in Rome to attend the summit. In the meeting, PM Hasina offered Nepal the use of theu Payra port, said Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen while briefing reporters. Read: Italy keen to take more manpower from Bangladesh in agri & hospitality sectors “Bangladesh has already opened the Chalna and Chittagong ports for Nepal. Nepal can use the newly constructed Payra port as well,” Momen  quoted her as telling Dahal. PM Hasina said Bangladesh is developing its Sayedpur airport as a regional hub to extend the connectivity in the region. The Nepalese premier  commended the development of Bangladesh under the successful leadership of PM Hasina, said Momen. Read: Time has come for a climate-smart agri-food revolution: PM Hasina tells UN food summit “You are a leader of our region,” Momen quoted him as saying. He said there is a huge scope of hydroelectricity generation in Nepal. In this context, Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh will take steps to import renewable energy particularly hydroelectricity after the first trilateral power trade from Nepal to Bangladesh through India for 40MW of power starts. Read: Bangladesh-Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Room opened at FAO Headquarters  Dahal mentioned that a good number of Nepalese students are pursuing their studies in Bangladesh.    

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday said the government wants to develop the country and for that reason it needs more energy. “We want the development of our country. That’s why we need energy,” she said while visiting Special US Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry called on her at her official residence. PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim later briefed reporters. He said the Prime Minister mentioned that as the source of clean energy, Bangladesh put emphasis on producing more energy from hydroelectric power plants. “We’ve only one hydroelectric power generation plant. Now we’re in discussion with Nepal, Bhutan and India to set up hydroelectric plants through bilateral or trilateral initiatives on regional basis,” she said. She also said that there are around 5.8 million solar connectivity in the country. Also read: Make no mistake; take action: Kerry on dealing with climate crisis together “Agriculture sector also needs solar energy for irrigation,” she said. Sheikh Hasina deeply appreciated the decision of the US to return to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. “This’ll create new momentum in climate change diplomacy,” she said.