Southwest Bangladesh to get uninterrupted power supply

Four major projects totalling over Tk4,000 crore are being rolled out in the south-western region of the country to relieve householders from load-shedding and other power supply interruptions. West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd has been implementing the projects in a total of 22 districts with a target to ensure an uninterrupted and quality power supply to over 1.1 million consumers. “Our prime target is to improve the quality of power supply and ensure an uninterrupted power distribution by 2021,” said engineer Md Shafique Uddin, managing director of the West Zone Power Distribution Company. The projects concern the strengthening of power distribution (Tk832 crore), the upgrading and expansion of power distribution (Tk1,249 crore), the expansion and augmentation of power distribution (Tk1,260 crore), and the installation of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system (Tk870 crore). The districts are: Khulna, Bagerhat, Satkhira, Narail, Jessore, Jhenaidah, Magura, Kushtia, Meherpur and Chuadanga in Khulna Division; Faridpur, Rajbari, Dhaka, Madaripur, Shariatpur and Gopalganj in Dhaka Division; and Barisal, Jhalakathi, Patuakhali, Barguna, Bhola and Pirojpur in Barisal Division. The West Zone Power Company was created in 2002 during the unbundling of the power sector as part of the government’s reform programme to bring efficiency to the electricity system. However, due to stiff opposition from the labour unions, the company had to wait until 2005 to start its operation. Before inception of the company, the areas were under the jurisdiction of state-owned Power Development Board (PDB). “Within a decade of the company’s takeover, the high system loss in the area came down to 9.4% from over 27%,” Shafique Uddin said. The West Zone Power Company has already introduced 63,000 pre-payment meters to its consumers in the Khulna area and has also undertaken a separate project to introduce another 500,000 smart-prepayment meters for its consumers in the next few years. “Once the smart-prepayment meters are installed, the consumers will not need to go to any vending station to recharge the meters,” Shafique Uddin said. “They can recharge their meters from home and anywhere else through their mobile phones. The proposed meters are the most modern ones, and West Zone has already signed a MoU with Chinese firm Hexing China to set up a manufacturing plant in Khulna for in-house production of the devices.” The West Zone chief said 1,851 km of new power distribution line had been installed and 2,100 distribution transformers set up to expand the power supply in new areas under the Tk832 crore strengthening power distribution project. Three new substations, each having 33/11 kV capacity, were set up while 11 existing substations of the same capacity were renovated under the same project. A 15-storey office building is also being constructed under the scheme. Under the upgrading and expansion of power distribution project worth Tk 1249 crore, Shafique said some 31 new substations (33/11 kV) are being built while another 32 existing substations are being renovated. He said the Tk1,260 crore-worth expansion and augmentation of power distribution project was undertaken to build 4,800km new distribution lines and install 2,530 distribution transformers to increase the capacity of the West Zone’s power supply network. “Once these projects are implemented, the power distribution capacity of the company will go more than double to 3,500 MVA from the existing 1,700 MVA”, he said. “We planned to expand our area and also increase the number of consumers from 1.1 million to 1.35 million by 2030 with ensuring no load shedding or interruption in power supply in West Zone commanding area.” He said a Tk870 crore project is being taken up to set up a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) to introduce a most modern system to control and monitor the entire power distribution centre. Shafique Uddin said the West Zone Power Distribution Company was given the biggest area of power distribution covering three major divisions - Khulna, Barisal and Dhaka (greater Faridpur). The industrial hubs of Mongla Export Processing Zone, Mongla Economic Zone and Indian Economic Zone in Mongla are also under its jurisdiction. “We are moving forward with a commitment to ensure an uninterrupted and quality power supply to our consumers,” he said.