The Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) has undertaken a massive electricity distribution upgradation project in the northern part of the capital and its new Purbachal and Uttara townships, an official said Thursday.
The Power Division official said the state-owned power distributor will add some 450,000 customers in its areas investing Tk 19.90 billion and ensure uninterrupted power supply.
“We have recently sought approval from the Planning Commission for the Tk 19.90 billion augmentation and rehabilitation of the distribution system in the DESCO project area. The work will begin this year,” the Power Division official said.
“Since the government had opened electricity connections on small scale we are getting preparation to augment our distribution system so that we can connect new consumers without interruptions,” a DESCO official said.
The Uttara third phase and Purbachal new towns will be covered under the DESCO line with the proposed project where the government has allocated residential plots to the people for building homes, the official said.
Besides, some existing distribution systems in Tongi, Mirpur, Agargaon, Kafrul, Gulshan and other DESCO areas will also be upgraded to ensure smooth power supply and boost capacity for adding new consumers, he added.
The DESCO is one of the two state-owned power distribution companies in Dhaka city which has so far 504,723 consumers.
The demand for power by the existing consumers is nearly 715-megawatt (MW) per day, the DESCO said.
The DESCO has taken a plan to raise its customers to 650,000 by the year 2015. The electricity load in this area will be increased to 1,006mw by that time. The DESCO official said they would install 14 new 33/11-kilovolt (kv) substation, augment capacity of the six 33/11 kv sub-stations and rehabilitate four 33/11 kv sub-stations in the existing system.
New lines in the Uttarra third phase and Purbachal townships will be installed along with expanding and rehabilitating the distribution lines in the DESCO areas. All the project works will be completed by June 2017.
Out of the Tk 19.90 billion project cost, Tk 11.06 billion is proposed to be provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Tk 5.40 billion by the DESCO from its own earnings and the rest Tk 3.43 billion by the government from its own exchequer.
“We are hopeful that if the project is executed load-shedding in the DESCO areas will be reduced by one percentage point to 7.5 per cent from the existing 8.5 per cent and the electricity supply to the consumers will be smooth,” the DESCO official said.
