BANGLADESH/ INDIA
Power-hungry
Perhaps counter-intuitively, nothing leads to cooperation between Southasian countries better than crippling shortages. With much of the region reeling under severe power scarcities, there are always plans afoot to share electricity. India, for instance, has been buying power from its smallest land neighbour, Bhutan. But India also shares electricity with needy neighbours, such as resource-rich but power-poor Nepal. Now, Bangladesh is to be added to this list.
Dhaka and New Delhi are set to sign an agreement on sharing electricity during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's official visit to New Delhi in mid-January. The plan is to set up a 740-megawatt power plant in the Indian state of Tripura, which will provide electricity across the border. India is expected to provide power for 17 hours per day, during non-peak times. Furthermore, it will now also be possible for Bangladesh to source power from Bhutan, through Indian territory.
Meanwhile, for India, the agreement is a way to source the natural gas it desperately needs. Indian officials are saying that if Bangladesh wants any more than 23 percent of the Tripura plant's total output, Dhaka will have to supply gas for it from its own reserves in the nearby Salda fields. This is not the first time India has made a bid to get gas from Bangladesh. In 2002, New Delhi tried to import gas from the Bibiyana fields in the northeastern Hibagani District.