People in northern region still not getting full benefit of electricity: Speakers

Speakers at a webinar on Saturday observed that people in the country’s north are still not getting the full benefit of electricity generation due to inadequate transmission facilities.

They urged the government to take prompt measures to improve the transmission system in that part of the country to allow its residents to avail the full benefit of adequate power generation.

“Even if a small storm goes across the region, electricity system trips due to weak transmission system,” said Khairuzzaman Liton, Mayor of Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) while addressing the webinar titled: “Quality Power Supply to North Bengal & Challenges for NESCO” organized by Energy and Power.

Liton said the power generation has improved a lot, but work still remains before the people start reaping all the advantages of electricity. 

The webinar was also addressed, among others, by Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) Chairman Belayet Hossain, NESCO (Northern Electricity Supply Company Ltd) Chairman and additional secretary at Power Division Humayun Kabir, managing director of the company Zakiul Islam, and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) executive director Yakub Elahi Chowdhury.

Belayet Hossain said the electricity supply situation will improve further in the northern region when the under-construction Thakurgaon power plant will come to operation.

He said the government has taken up a number of projects for improvement of power supply situation in the northern districts including Rajshahi city area.

Humayun Kabir said the government is trying to improve the transmission system.

But it will take two to three years to address the transmission and distribution problems as the ongoing projects need this period to be implemented, he added.

Yakub Elahi Chowdhury said projects for contractions of a number of transmission lines were undertaken for the northern region which include a 400 kV line as well.

“Once these projects are implemented, they will play a vital role to improve the situation,” he added.

Zakiul Islam said NESCO is committed to improve the power distribution at its command area, where people have eagerly waited to get electricity for many years.