Dhaka, Bangladesh, (NNN-Xinhua) : The World Bank has approved 59 million U.S. dollars financing to help Bangladesh meet the increasing demand for electricity by improving the reliability and efficiency of the entire power system, the Washington-based lender said in a statement on Thursday.

The Power System Reliability and Efficiency Improvement Project will reduce power outage and load-shedding, as well as cut electricity generation costs, said the statement.

The project will modernize the electricity generation process and practices with installation of new software and hardware, as well as upgrading the transmission system.

The project will also lower greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the use of carbon-intense fuel in electricity generation.

“In the last five years, Bangladesh has almost doubled its electricity generation capacity to meet increasing demand for electricity. Yet, our 2017 Doing Business Report still ranked 187 out of 190 economies on the Getting Electricity indicator,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

“The project will help address bottlenecks and modernize the overall power system. This will reduce outages, save fuel in power generation, and help bring affordable and reliable electricity to households and businesses.”

According to the 2013 World Bank Enterprise Survey, businesses in Bangladesh face power outages for 840 hours per year on average with an output loss equivalent to 3 percent of GDP.

Only 70 percent of rural households in Bangladesh have access to electricity.

As the government aims to double electricity generation capacity again in the next five years, it will be important to expand the transmission network and optimize the national power system operation to accommodate the increased power flows.

The project will help construct and rehabilitate a 40 km transmission line and remove bottlenecks in other important lines.

“In Bangladesh, the supply of power has not been able to keep pace with the rapid growth of demand, resulting in frequent outages and load shedding,” said M. Iqbal, World Bank Task Team Leader.

“To increase reliability, efficiency, and affordability, the project will provide, in addition to infrastructure investments, the necessary tools and know-how to modernize the power system dispatch in Bangladesh. This will enable the National Load Dispatch Center to operate the generation and transmission facilities at an optimal cost,” he added.