Bangladesh and Indian government signed a memorandum of understanding in2010 to meet the growing need of electricity in Bangladesh.
Present AL lead government came to power by pledging to solve the severe power crisis. They concentrated on expensive diesel powered quick rental power plants. Now these power plants have become a burden on the economy. Foreign exchange reserve has crunched.
Government also taken initiative to set a nuclear power plant, but that will take few more years to start power generation.
Bangladesh is running out of gas resource in land and the government yet to finalize national coal policy.
Coal exploration is delayed amid the debate of open pit and tunnel type mining.
Many energy experts have been advising the government to import gas or electricity from neighboring countries.
Bangladesh was interested in a joint project with Bhutan, Nepal and India to set up large scale hydroelectric project in the Himalayan region. India is already working with Nepal and Bhutan bilaterally, but India is not interested in international project like this.
Many security experts fear that if Bangladesh becomes dependant on Indian power stations, India may use it as bargaining chip later.
At the end the government decided to import power from India. A joint project is undergoing to setup transmission line and substation. 45% work of the project in Bangladesh side is finished. A contract to import 250MW electricity is already signed and another contract to import more 250MW electricity is to be signed soon. The government is hoping that this will help to improve the situation.
