Tk 100cr sought for damage repairs

Dhaka: The Power Division has requested the government to provide about Tk 100 crore for four power agencies for the long-term rehabilitation and modernisation of transmission and distribution systems damaged by cyclone Sidr that struck Bangladesh on November 15.

The division in the past week forwarded to the Planning Commission the project proposals of the Rural Electrification Board, West Zone Power Distribution Company, Dhaka Electric Supply Authority and Power Development for the rehabilitation and modernisation of the damaged transmission and distribution, sources in the division said.

‘We forwarded the project proposals of the four agencies seeking government fund of around Tk 100 crore. The projects, to be implemented between January 2008 and June 2009, focus on the rehabilitation and repair of the damaged systems, and pre-cautionary measures so that such damage could be minimised in future during natural disasters,’ a high Power Division official told New Age on Thursday.

Among the agencies, the Rural Electrification Board and the West Zone Power Distribution Company suffered heavy losses in the cyclone as the agencies supply power to the southern and south-western districts such as Bagerhat, Barguna, Barisal, Jhalkathi, Pirojpur and Bhola, which were ravaged by the cyclone.

In the REB proposal, the board sought Tk 51.9 crore for repairs and replacement of broken and unaligned transmission poles, ruptured distribution wires and damaged transformers, meters and towers.

According to the REB estimate, the number of broken poles is 7,264, unaligned poles 33,890, ruptured distribution lines (spans) 29,095, damaged meters around 35,000 and damaged transformers 468.
The west zone company sought Tk 36.09 crore for repairs or replacement of the damaged systems and the Dhaka Electric Supply Authority sought Tk 14.38 crore.

Although sources could not immediately confirm the amount of fund sought for the Power Development Board, they said the amount was few crore less than what DESA sought.

Sources said the agencies sought more fund than the actual damage of transmission and distribution systems to modernise some existing systems.
‘Before Sidr, the agencies were asked to prepare comprehensive proposals to improve the transmission and distribution to match the expected increase in power generation in 2008. The agencies have included some modernisation tasks in the proposals for the rehabilitation of the systems. They will exclude the tasks from their improvement proposals,’ said a source.

Sources said the Planning Commission would soon discuss the proposals of the agencies.
The government has allocated Tk 7 crore to the Rural Electrification Board and the west zone distribution company after the Power Division sought the fund for the emergency repairs of the damaged systems.