Dhaka: State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid today said the government would import 2,000 MW electricity from India in future.

‘Currently we are importing 600MW power from India and has a plan to increase the figure to 2,000MW in the coming years,’ he said while addressing a workshop on ‘Power Market Development in India: Key Lessons Learnt’ as the chief guest at Mukti Hall in Bidyut Bhaban in Dhaka.

Chaired by power division secretary Monowar Islam, the workshop was also addressed, among others, by M Abul Kalam Azad, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director, IRADe (International Research and Action for Development) and Karl Wurster, Deputy Director, Economic Growth Office, USAID, Bangladesh.

Director General of Power Cell under Power Division Mohammad Hossain delivered welcome speech, while VK Kharbanda, Project Director, SARI/EI, IRADe gave note of thanks.

Nasrul Hamid said this workshop would help the government learn about Indian power market and its activities as Bangladesh had prepared a five-year plan in the power sector.

‘We have a target to reach the generation capacity to 24,000MW by 2021 and 50 percent power would come from coal and the rest would come from other sources,’ he said and launched a report on electricity policies/ regulations/laws of SAC to promote CBET.

Session Chair Ahmad Kaikaus, Additional Secretary of Power Division, said Power sector in India has grown significantly across the value chain since independence, both in terms of generation capacity and transmission and distribution (TD) system.

He said the total power generating capacity of utilities and non-utilities has grown from a meagre 1362 MW in 1947 to 267 GW at the end of March, 2015.

Other speakers discussed the present state of Indian power market and put forward ideas as to how Bangladesh can benefit from the Indian power market.