By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Bangladesh and Meghalaya Government have entered into an agreement to set up a power grid at Sohra for transmission of power to Bangladesh.
“We are proposing to have cross-border power exchanges by setting up the Indo-Bangla power grid interconnection linking Chattak and Sohra. Sohra is the best location for setting up of the grid since it is only 10 km away from the Indo-Bangla international border,” Bangladesh High Commissioner, Tariq A Karim, who accompanied Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Dr Gowher Rizvi, said following their meeting with Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma here on Saturday.
He said they would like to initially construct a grid with a capacity of 130 MW.
While pointing out that with so many positive developments happening in the State, Karim said, “We are hoping to be able to construct a transmission line of 500 MW in the next five years.”
The Bangladesh High Commissioner said that he would not be able to give any details on the proposed proposal since it is still in the negotiation stage.
“A detailed study would have to be carried out on the feasibility of the grid which has been proposed. Once the detailed study is completed, the details on the nitty gritty of the project would be clear,” Karim said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma said that the State would be largely benefitted once the grid is set up at Sohra.
“There are many power projects in the State which are in the pipeline. Once these power projects are completed, there will be surplus power in the State which could be sold to Bangladesh through this grid,” Dr Sangma said.
Elaborating further on the different areas of cooperation between Meghalaya and Bangladesh, Karim said, “We have also talked about increasing the number of border haats and food, spices processing units and we are trying to get our entrepreneurs together for a meeting either here in Meghalaya or in Bangladesh. We have also talked about potentials that exist in increasing and harnessing bamboo cultivation to make a project which will be eco-friendly as well as meet a lot of our other needs such as low cost housing.”
“We are bound together and are the children of the Brahmaputra and we are thinking of how we can cooperate in harnessing the power of this mighty river as well as harnessing the munificence of this river. A river cannot be harnessed in segments; it has to be done together and with the participation of Bangladesh Meghalaya and Assam together. Bangladesh is convening a meeting with India and Bhutan on the Brahmaputra Basin Management,” the High Commissioner said while adding that this is a big project which will transform the entire region.
Talks were also held on the possibility of Shillong being a tourist and educational destination for the people of Bangladesh.
“Shillong can not only become a tourist destination but also an educational hub like it was in the past when students from Bangladesh would come to Shillong for studies till 1960s. But that has stopped now due to poor communication,” Karim recalled.
Adviser to the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Dr Gowher Rizvi said the two sides have discussed cooperation in several sectors like power. “We want to generate power by using raw materials such as coal, water and linking the power grid from Sohra to Bangladesh,” he said.