Summit and Friendship to develop solar village in Gaibandha

Summit, the largest infrastructure conglomerate of Bangladesh will jointly develop "Friendship-Summit Solar Village Project" (Solar Village) with Friendship, an international social purpose organisation with focus on climate change adaptation, in a remote char area in Gaibandha district as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

When functional in February 2023, it will be generating 54 Kilowatt (KW) benefiting 205 ultra-poor households, a local market consisting of 26 shops, four primary schools, one madrasa and Friendship's legal information booth, which are presently off-grid. 

Summit pledges about Tk1.5 crore for the development including 61 decimal land lease, solar panel installation, related logistics and maintenance in Kabilpur char area till 2026, reads a press release. 

Latif Khan, vice-chairman of Summit Group of Companies, said, "At Summit, we are strategically looking into green energy. As part of CSR, we are initiating this solar village with Friendship. In parallel, we are also studying utility scale viability of solar and wind power generation in Bangladesh." 

Runa Khan, founder and executive director of Friendship, said, "Anyone who has seen the mighty river Jamuna in spate, will understand that grids are really not possible here. On the other hand, this solar grid will provide income generating livelihoods and opportunities for children's education." 

She added that electricity also contributes to the safety and security in the village, for example by preventing burns and other health impacts from kerosene lamps, and by providing light in the evenings. 

Azeeza Aziz Khan ACA, director of Summit Group and member of CSR Committee; Azharul Hoque FCA, director of Summit Corporation; Md Mozammel Hossain, managing director of Summit Gazipur II Power and Summit Ace Alliance Power; Rahad Husain, GM (Finance) and Col Jawad-Ul Islam (Retd), Senior GM of Summit Corporation Limited were present at the signing ceremony among other senior officials.