India, Bangladesh agree private sector partnership in power sector

 The Dollar Business Bureau   India and Bangladesh have agreed for exchange of power through private sector cooperation, alongside continuing the existing government-level cooperation in the power sector. The power secretaries of India and Bangladesh, on Friday, concluded a two-day meeting in Dhaka, where they discussed the ways for exploring cooperation in the power sector between India and Bangladesh. According to an official release, a high-level delegation led by P K Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, was in Dhaka to attend a meeting of the Joint Steering Committee on the Power Sector on Thursday with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Monowar Islam, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. This is the 9th meeting of the Joint Steering Committee involving the officials from both the sides and the 8th such meeting was held in New Delhi on October 10, 2014, informed the release, adding that ‘the meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the Joint Working Group’. In the meeting, both the sides were said to have discussed and reviewed the current status of cooperation between the two countries in the power sector, along with plans to further intensify efforts to expand such cooperation. “We are already engaged in the government level cooperation in powers sector and now the two countries agreed to allow private sector partnership in this sector, said an official spokesperson from the Ministry of Energy, People's Republic of Bangladesh, according to the reports. Meanwhile, P K Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India, was also quoted to have said that the private-private cooperation is just like we have the public-public involving two countries' state-owned entities cooperation. That could be either in Bangladesh or in India, in his brief comments late Thursday. The proposal promoting private sector cooperation in the power sector between the two countries was said to have been floated by the Indian side as the Indian companies expressed interest to invest in power sector of Bangladesh. In this regard, Power Secretary of Ministry of Power, Government of Bangladesh, was quoted to have said that the they have discussed about the Indian companies interests to invest in Bangladesh power sector alongside the issues of importing power from Nepal and Bhutan through India. However, in response to this, the Indian Power Secretary was said to have informed that the Indian side would examine required regulatory measures in enabling Bangladesh to import hydropower from Nepal and Bhutan. This steering committee enabling power cooperation between the two sides involving the private sector, gains importance in view of the supposed visit of the Indian Prime Minister’s maiden visit to Bangladesh post the settlement of the long-pending Land Boundary Agreement.    

May 15, 2015 | 5:09 pm IST.