State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Friday said the Bangladesh-India Friendship Pipeline will effectively contribute to the country’s energy security.
“The pipeline will be a milestone in providing quick and uninterrupted fuel supply to the northern region of the country in a cost-effective manner,” said the state minister while inspecting the progress of the pipeline at Parbatipur in Dinajpur.
He said that one of the main conditions for development is uninterrupted power and energy supply, which the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been doing very successfully for the past 14 years.
Nasrul thanked everyone involved in the project for its completion before the scheduled time.
Energy and Mineral Resources Department Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation Chairman ABM Azad, Petrobangla Chairman Zanendra Nath Sarker was present on the occasion among others.
The foundation stone of India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline was laid in 2018 to provide fuel supply to 16 districts of the northern region of the country. The construction period of the 126.57km pipeline was till June 2023 at a cost of Tk306 crore.
Bangladesh is set to start importing fuel oil from India through this cross-border pipeline which is scheduled to be inaugurated on 18 March.
The Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, the lone state-owned importer of fuel oil, plans to import around 2-3 lakh tonnes of fuel through the pipeline annually. On the other hand, the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) oil supply project is completed already, which will save money and time, a project official said.
It will solve the existing problems by ensuring uninterrupted fuel oil supply to 16 districts of Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions in shorter time and in a cost-effective manner. Apart from uninterrupted, cheaper and quicker energy supply security, the cross-border pipeline is expected to help BPC reduce the system loss that it incurs in the form of pilferage.
The project is jointly implemented by the Meghna Petroleum Limited of Bangladesh and Numaligarh Refinery Limited of India to connect pipe line from Siliguri in West Bengal, India with Parbatipur in Bangladesh’s Dinajpur district.
When contacted, Mohammad Tipu Sultan, Project Director and General Manager (HR) of Meghna Petroleum Limited told Bangladesh Post that the project work is progressing at a fast pace.
“The pipeline laying work is almost done. Other tasks are running in parallel. More than 60 percent work of the entire project has already been completed. We hope that it will be possible to inaugurate the main pipeline from India to Parbatipur by next June,” he explained.
The capacity of this under-construction 130 km pipeline will be 1 million metric tonnes per year. Bangladesh will import diesel for 15 years from the day when supply commences. Initially, Bangladesh would buy some 2.5 lakh tonnes of diesel. It would then be increased up to 4 to 5 lakh tonnes in the following years.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that the construction work of India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) is at the last stage. North Bengal and Bangladesh are going to enter a new era in fuel oil transportation.
“Fuel oil will come directly from Numaligarh in India to Parbatipur depot in Dinajpur through a 131.50 km long pipeline. This will save a lot of money every year on fuel transportation. As well as at the earliest, waste-free, uninterrupted oil transportation will be ensured,” said the minster.
