India and Bangladesh on Saturday embarked on an energy cooperation venture, with the inauguration of two collaborative power projects. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the step as a “historic moment” in the partnership between the two countries.
The projects – a transmission 500 MW export line from West Bengal and a 1,320-MW thermal power project in Bangladesh – were inaugurated by Singh and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, through a video conference.
The maitri thermal power project is being developed by the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company, a joint venture between the National Thermal Power Corporation and the Bangladesh Power Development Board.
Inaugurating the projects, Singh said it was a “historic moment when we embark on a new partnership for prosperity between the two countries”.
Observing that the destinies of the two countries are interlinked, he said, “The initiatives being undertaken today strengthen the bonds of friendship between India and Bangladesh and add a rich new dimension to our bilateral relations.”
Sheikh Hasina, present at a sub-station in western Bheramara, 240 km from Dhaka, was joined by India’s New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah.
“The inter-grid connectivity is part of an immediate solution which would go a long way to alleviate the power deficit in Bangladesh,” Hasina said.
Such cooperation will allow the two sides to embark on more ambitious projects, she added.
The formal opening of the transmission line came a week after India launched a test transmission of electricity.
The inauguration began with the supply of 175 MW to Bangladesh’s national grid.
Bangladesh will import 250 MW from the Indian government’s “unallocated quota” and another 250 MW will be supplied by a private firm.
However, Bangladesh’s biggest-ever joint venture in a coal-run power project came against the backdrop of protests by environmentalists, who fear that the venture near the shared Sundarbans will endanger the world’s largest mangrove forest.