A power sector project of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is considered a transformative milestone for rural Bangladesh.
Millions of people who live in areas without any access to the national power grid are going to get the access.
The AIIB-financed 165-million-US dollar Power Distribution System Upgrade and Expansion Project including its distribution system is helping Bangladesh expand electricity coverage.
It is providing nearly 1 million new service connections in rural areas within four months till December, 2017.
The AIIB project is designed to expand electricity coverage by providing 2.5 million new service connections in rural areas and upgrade grid substations and convert overhead distribution lines into underground cables in northern Dhaka.
Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) and Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited (DESCO) have been entrusted to implement three separate components of the project for which AIIB provided 165 million US dollars, the first batch of loan for the country from the development bank.
Shafiqur Rahman, director for the project's 98.64 million US dollars BREB component, said, "We've already provided almost 1 million new service connections in rural areas across the country."
"Every month we have been providing some 300,000 new service connections," he added.
DESCO Sub-Divisional Engineer Khandoker Istiaque Ahmad said work is underway to upgrade two substations and install 33kv distribution lines underground in urban areas.
The capacity of both the substations will be augmented to 360 MVA each from their existing 150 MVA and 225 MVA, reports, Xinhua.
Officials said implementation of all the components of the project will immensely benefit rural Bangladesh people and it will also improve quality and reliability of power supply in Bangladesh by reducing distribution losses.
