Agartala, Jan 16
After Tripura, the Assam government is also keen to supply its surplus electricity to Bangladesh, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha said here on Friday, referring to his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Assam Chief Minister Sarma, who arrived here on Thursday on a two-day visit to Tripura, had dinner with his Tripura counterpart at the latter's official bungalow on Thursday night, during which they discussed various issues concerning the two states.
"During our discussion, Sarma expressed his willingness to share excess electricity from Assam with Bangladesh through Tripura. Since 2016, Tripura has been supplying electricity to Bangladesh, and the term of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard will expire in March this year. We may extend the tenure of the MoU further," the Tripura Chief Minister told the media.
CM Saha said that he also discussed the widening of the National Highway connecting Tripura and Assam.
"Recently, I visited Churaibari in north Tripura along the Assam border and saw that the narrow National Highway between the two states poses serious difficulties for the movement of goods-laden trucks, passenger buses and other vehicles.
"This vital highway needs to be widened for the smooth movement of all kinds of vehicles," he said.
Churaibari, located around 170 km from Agartala, is the entry point to Tripura. The area witnesses massive traffic congestion every day, with thousands of vehicles of various types plying through it.
Meanwhile, Tripura, which shares an 856-km-long border with Bangladesh, is currently supplying over 100 MW of electricity to the neighbouring country.
Tripura began supplying 100 MW of power to Bangladesh from the state-owned ONGC Tripura Power Company (OTPC) power plant in southern Tripura's Gomati district in March 2016.
The supply sometimes goes up to 160 MW, an official of the Tripura State Electricity Corporation Limited (TSECL) said.
"After the first agreement in 2016, we subsequently renewed the agreement twice to continue the supply of electricity to Bangladesh," the official added.
He said that the Bangladesh government has recently requested the TSECL to supply at least 250 MW of electricity to help meet its growing power demand.
The final decision on Bangladesh's fresh proposal has not yet been taken, the official said.
Tripura Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath recently said that the state is also keen to supply power to Nepal. He said that a plan is underway to export power from Tripura to Nepal and that a meeting was held earlier in New Delhi, as the Central government will take the final call on the matter.
Though Tripura does not share a border with Nepal, the Himalayan nation shares a 1,751-km-long border with five Indian states - Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Nath said that with the availability of natural gas declining, the TSECL is introducing new technologies to enhance power generation efficiency.
"With the help of the World Bank, Rs 935 crore is being invested to double power generation using the same amount of gas through combined-cycle gas turbine technology at Rokhia in Sepahijala district.
"We have also decided to set up an 800 MW pumped storage power project at Chawmanu in Dhalai district, and the preparation of the Detailed Project Report is underway," he said.
The minister added that a 400 kV sub-station will be set up at Suryamani Nagar, near here, as Tripura continues to supply power to Bangladesh.
- IANS
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