100MW more for Bangladesh if federal govt ensures gas

Tripura Power Minister Manik Dey yesterday agreed to provide Bangladesh another 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity, on condition that the federal government maintains a steady gas supply to the project in Sepahijala district generating it.

Bangladesh has been getting 100MW since March 23 from a project in Gomati district and recently wrote to the Indian government seeking 100MW more from Tripura.

The federal power ministry wanted the state government's opinion. It has been conveyed, Manik told journalists in Agartala. "We are also interested...We can give them the entire production of the 101MW," he said.

The Monarchak project in Sepahijala belongs to state-owned North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited, which made an agreement to sell the entire production to Tripura.

The project is now ready to run commercially. During trials, gas was supplied by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

Tripura's 726 MW gas-based project in Gomati supplies power through a 47 kilometre double circuit transmission line the Indian government set up from Suryamaninagar to Comilla in Bangladesh.