RAJSHAHI, Feb 18, 2019 (BSS) – Power Development Board (PDB) has been
implementing a mega project to ensure a safe and dependable power supply to
meet increasing demand for electricity till 2025.
PDB sources said the four and half-year project styled “Power
Distribution Management Development, Rajshahi Zone” is being implemented in
Rajshahi City and 16 upazilas in eight districts under Rajshahi division.
The Taka 964.16-crore project will improve distribution system along
with capacity enhancement of the distribution zone coupled with supplying
power uninterruptedly, said Engineer Abdul Aziz, director of the project.
Upon its successful implementation by December 2020, the mega scheme
will meet the gradually mounting power demand and reduce system loss.
It will also help reducing existing load shedding caused by the
prevailing power system weakness in the zone comprising 60 upazilas covering
16,493 square-kilometer areas with around 21.7 million people.
In the recent time, a large number of new rice mills, cold-storages,
poultry farms and agro-based industries were established in the region.
Besides, big shopping malls, trade centres and large number of educational
institutions are functioning. An export processing zone has been set in
Pabna. These establishments have created a huge demand for power supply.
Engineer Aziz said the project has provision of installing seventeen
33/11 KV new substations and upgradation and renovation of existing 27
others. “We are constructing 1299-kilometer new distribution lines side by
side with renovating 1714-kilometer existing lines,” he added.
He told BSS that construction of a number of picking power plants,
independent power plants and rental electricity centres is progressing fast
in the region. Fifty-one percent of implementation works on the project was
completed, he added.
As a whole, the project will enormously supplement the government vision
of supplying power to all houses and establishments by 2021, Engineer Aziz
expected.