Several areas of Bangladesh went into a complete blackout on Tuesday as the country’s national power transmission grid collapsed around 2:00 PM, leaving millions of people in the dark. The government assured that they are working on the problem and that the power will be restored by 8 PM in the evening.
“The power supply will be fully restored by 8 pm,” said Bangladesh’s State Minister of ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
The officials of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) informed that the transmission line tripped somewhere in the country’s east, particularly in districts east of the Jamuna river.
Engineers were trying to figure out where and why the glitches occurred and restoring the power could take several hours, the officials said.
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Due to the power grid failure, telecommunication services may also get affected in several areas of Bangladesh. “Due to national power grid failure, telecommunication services may disrupt in some parts of the country. We are sorry for the inconvenience,” all mobile telecom operators said in a statement.
“We have already restored electricity supply at Bangabhaban and Ganabhaban and also some parts in Mirpur and other areas,” Bangladesh State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid told United News.
The government had recently decided to suspend the operations of diesel-run power plants, which produced around 6% of the country’s power. The decision was aimed at reducing the import cost amid high crude oil prices in the international market.
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The garment industry of the country, which amounts to about 80% of its exports, is facing the most intense burst of power crisis. Some garment manufacturers are informed that sometimes their manufacturing plants are out of power for 6-8 hours.
Domestic manufacturing constraints with sluggish exports are pulling down the once-booming economy of the country. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) also expects a slowdown in the growth of the economy of Bangladesh from 7.1% to 6.6%.
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