Bangladesh hopes to resolve much of its power crisis by buying electricity and gas from India in the short term and exploring similar options in other regional countries for a long term remedy, a government adviser said on Tuesday.
"The present severe energy and power crisis have opened up numerous opportunities to face the challenges, including regional trade in energy and power," Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, for energy and power told a business conference.
"We will import nearly 1,200 megawatts (MW) of electricity from India over the next three years under an umbrella deal including 250 MW to meet immediate demand," Tawfiq said.
The conference was attended by delegates from 20 countries including Australia, China, Japan, Germany, the U.S. and UK and also leading energy firms and investment banks.
Tawfiq said Bangladesh was eager to get both natural gas and electricity from Tripura, a northeastern state of India.
During a visit to Bangladesh last month, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Lal Sarkar assured that the state would sell electricity to the neighbouring country.
Tripura has gas reserves being used for power generation.
Sarkar told Dhaka a 740 MW power plant was being set up in Tripura, but the state would not need it all as it had few industries, and will sell initially 100 MW to Bangladesh.
"Negotiations are also continuing with Nepal and Bhutan (for procuring energy) and efforts have been made to improve the relationship with Myanmar," Tawfiq said.
He said the most potential source of input for power could be domestic reserves of coal and the government was trying to formulate short-term plans to set up imported coal-based power plants and would switch to local coal in the long run.
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