70% power restored in coastal areas: Nasrul Hamid

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid today (October 25, 2022) said 70 percent power supply of the coastal areas, affected by Cyclone Sitrang was restored this evening and 100 percent will be restored within tomorrow (October 26, 2022) noon.

Some 70 percent connections of the coastal areas were restored till 5:00 pm today, ," he told reporters at his office.

"Transmission and distribution lines were affected. It will be possible to provide 100 percent electricity by tomorrow noon," he added.

Sitrang extensively damaged electricity infrastructure and about 80 lakh subscribers were living without power, said Nasrul.

"We have about 4.80 crore subscribers. Now about 80 lakh were without power. More than 800 poles of the Bangladesh Rural Electrification Board (BREB) were damaged. In total, about 1500-2000 poles including BPDB had been damaged," said the state minister.

"Power poles were uprooted in some areas and fallen trees damaged the lines. Problems were witnessed in many places so the power supply was completely shut down to avoid any unwanted situation.," he said.

The state minister said Bhola, Patuakhali, Barishal, Chandpur, Chattogram, Lakshipur, Noakhali suffered the most damage.