In Bangladesh’s ascent as an economy, it is imperative that along the way, while focusing on infrastructure, it does not lose sight of another key component that will determine the quality of people’s lives - that of electricity generation.

To that end, the fact that a total of 1,141,000 people are expected to benefit from a significant improvement in the quality of electricity service by the first-ever smart grid project in the country is certainly very encouraging news.

The “Power Factor Improvement and Smart Grid under Dhaka Power Development Company (DPDC)” is a blended finance project where an EU grant is combined with a soft loan from the French development agency, AFD - and as stated by the EU representative for the project, Enrico Lorenzon, it could be a first stepping stone towards a greener, more efficient, and reliable power system in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has often spoken of its intentions of making its development sustainable, and while the smart grid idea is in its nascent stage, we must have the foresight to conceive such plans - only then will such ambitious plans ever see the light of day.

However, while we can acknowledge that the completion of the vision is some distance away, we must acknowledge what is immediate, and work accordingly to ensure that we do not start seeing delays and discrepancies at this stage itself.

Too often, ideas and plans in our country fail to see progress, oftentimes falling victim to bureaucratic red tape and a culture of negligence that is simply no longer befitting of a country with our ambitions. To that end, we hope we continue seeing progress with this project, and that Bangladesh will soon boast a smart grid that is suitable for a Smart Bangladesh.