The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has proposed Nepal to export 1,000MW of electricity to Bangladesh from the Himalayan state’s Sapt-Kosi High Dam, 110 km off Thakurgaon of Bangladesh.
She gave the proposal in a meeting with the Nepalese prime minister, Baburam Bhattarai, at Shangri-La Resort in Addu City on the sidelines of the 17th SAARC Summit that ended Friday.
‘During the meeting, Hasina called for a broader agreement with Nepal for cooperation in the areas of hydropower generation and trade and proposed
for joint venture projects or equity sharing or direct purchase agreement with Nepal to obtain 10,000-MW electricity in the next five to seven years,’ her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told the news agency.
The two prime ministers agreed to take up projects to harness hydropower and water resources at sub-regional and regional levels.
Hasina said Bangladesh, India and Nepal might jointly construct water reservoirs in Nepal for augmentation of dry season flows of the Ganges.
All three countries, she said, should implement Sapt-Kosi High Dam with augmentation potential of 68,600 cusecs. ‘Bangladesh would import 3,500MW power from the Sapt-Kosi High Dam project,’ she said.
In this connection, Hasina said Nepalese rivers contribute 71 per cent of Ganges natural dry season flow and 41 per cent of the annual flows of the Ganges at Farakka point.
Laying importance on increasing trade with Nepal, she said Bangladesh had undertaken initiatives to improve infrastructure of land customs stations and land ports for trade with neighbouring countries.
The prime minister said Bangladesh had already signed an addendum to an MoU with India for rail transit to Nepal on Rohanpur-Singabad
route, and about 50,000 tonnes of fertiliser had already been transported to Nepal through this route.
Hasina said the multi-gauge conversion of Birol- Radhikapur sector by 2012 would help two rail linkages for boosting trade between Bangladesh and Nepal as well as third country.
Referring to the signing of the Standard Operating Procedure with India during her visit to India in January 2010, she said it would allow Nepalese cargo vehicles to enter up to 200 meters from zero point at Banglabanda inside Bangladesh.
She said Bangladesh and Nepal could also collaborate in the areas
of promotion of the tourism, people-to-people contact, and study of the Nepalese students in Bangladesh’s private universities.
Hasina congratulated Baburam Bhattarai on his election as the prime minister of Nepal and expressed hope that the ‘Peace Process’ and drafting of the constitution in Nepal would be successful.
She invited Baburam Bhattarai to visit Bangladesh at his time of convenience.
Foreign minister Dipu Moni, ambassador-at-large M Ziauddin and PM’s press secretary Abul Kalam Azad, among others, were present on the occasion.
Source: New Age
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