AGARTALA, July 16 (TIWN): To facilitate Bangladesh with 100 Mega Watt (MW) of power, Tripura Left front government is all set to sign an agreement with Bangladesh government soon, said Power Minister Manik Dey. The power would be dispatched to Bangladesh Comilla District from Tripura Suryamaninagar power grid.Dey said, “We will sign the agreement with the Bangladesh government just within 15 days to get 100 MW of power from Palatana power plant and to dispatch it to Bangladesh Comilla District from the power grid located at Suryamoninagar.”Transmission of 100 MW of power from Tripura to neighbouring Bangladesh will begin next year, said official.The 100 MW of power will be later dispatched further in several areas of Bangladesh. Dey said, “PGCIL has put effort to complete the construction work of power grids from Suryamaninagar area to the Indo-Bangla border on the direction of South Comilla.”PGCIL has already completed work on 20 of the 65 transmission towers in south and western part of Tripura whereas the work on more 45 towers is underway.However, from the part of Bangladesh, the construction of power grids is also under process expediting installation of power transmission line.

Dey said, "I have asked the PGCIL authorities to expedite the works to fulfill our commitments, given to Bangladesh about supplying 100 MW of power.”

Bangladesh is expected to begin receiving 100 MW of power from Tripura from early January, 2016. This will be in addition to the 500 MW it already receives from West Bengal and a like amount that is on the cards from the state for a total of 1,100 MW as the two countries enter a new phase of bilateral cooperation for regional benefit.

Sixty five transmission towers are being erected by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd for transmission of power, whereas the Palatana power plant is preparing to launch another power unit of 90 MW.

However the state government authority along with Palatana OTPC has expedited work in view to dispatch power to Bangladesh by 2016. Power Grid Corporation of India limited (PGCIL) is constructing the power grid to send this power of 100 MW from Suryamaninagar to South Comilla.

The Centre is funding Rs 83 crore for the project and despite all odds, Tripura has topped the list of highest power surplus state in the country with the installation of 726.6 MW Palatana project.

Besides, all the power generating company across the country would receive about Rs 6, 00,000 crore debt from the entire country.

According to the power official while erecting new power transmission lines from (western Tripura's) Surjyamaninagar power grid to Comilla (in eastern Bangladesh) power grid to supply the power, human habitations, forests and other vital installations would be avoided.

A high level meeting was held on June 2 at the Ministry of Power office, where it has been finalized that the state government would provide a power of 100 MW to Bangladesh from its own source.

The state government has planned to supply power to Bangladesh as the Bangladesh government had extended her helping hands towards bringing the heavy machineries here in Tripura Palatana through their land.