City power lines to go underground

The electricity lines in big cities including Dhaka and Chattogram will be laid underground, and the work of which has started in the capital’s Dhanmondi area. To this end, the government is implementing a project worth Tk 12,000 crore

State Minister for Power, Mineral Resources and Energy Nasrul Hamid Bipu said this yesterday while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of a four-day housing fair -- REHAB Chattogram Fair 2021.

The Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh hosted the fair at Radisson Blu Hotel in the port city on Thursday afternoon.

 The laying of underground cables has already begun in Dhanmondi and it will start in other cities too, the junior minister said, underscoring the need for a concerted effort to reduce public suffering during the implementation of the project.

“The Power Department officials will soon hold a meeting with the Chittagong City Corporation for this purpose. The government has almost fulfilled its pledge to ensure cent percent electrification on the occasion of Mujib Year,” Nasrul pointed out.

 Under the slogan ‘Dreamy Housing Green Country, Red Green Bangladesh’ 71 stalls of various organisations have been set up in the REHAB fair that started from Thursday (November 18) and will continue till Sunday.  

On the occasion, Nasrul Hamid said a project has been taken up to provide uninterrupted power supply to Chattogram within two-and-a-half years. Besides, another project is underway to generate power from waste within one and a half years; Chattogram will be the first city to generate electricity from waste, he maintained. The government is also implementing a project to modernise the country’s only oil refinery Eastern Refinery Limited. 

A 160-kilometre pipeline is being laid under the sea which will allow imported oil to be easily discharged in just 12 hours from large ships in the deep sea to offshore oil reserves. 

As a result, the cost of transporting oil will save about Tk 1000 crore per year, said the state minister.

Presided over by REHAB president Shamsul Al Amin Kajal, Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, vice-president Kamal Mahmud and REHAB Chattogram Chairman Abdul Qayyum Chowdhury also spoke on the occasion.