Last week the parliamentary standing committee on power and energy asked the power authorities to ensure the electricity supply to irrigation areas as per the planned schedule of 11pm to 5am. Most of the Boro cultivation areas did not get proper power supply.
A news report from Patuakhali says, acute power shortage has crippled public life in 21 south-eastern districts. The situation has worsened with power generation in the three decade old 110 Megawatt power plant in Barisal coming to a halt due to technical fault.
Executive Engineer of the PDB, Patuakhali said the successive governments paid no heed to establishing any power unit in the region in the last 25 years considering the increasing demand for electricity in the districts. The people in the region experience 12-16 hours of load-shedding a day.
The same story is repeated in all the regions and districts of Bangladesh. The irrigation seasons has begun and summer has set in which results in a terrible situation in the whole country. In Dhaka city alone the load-shedding normally occurs three to four times. The situation outside Dhaka is also same.
The public and private sources stress that in the coming days shortfall in electricity and consequent load-shedding will be terrible. Since middle of March the scarcity of electricity will go up to as high as 2000 Megawatt everyday. As a result of load-shedding in the cities, urban areas and villages will face six times load-shedding a day.
The areas covered by the REB (Rural Electrification Board) in the region outside Dhaka city face same power shortage. REB says, only 30% of electricity required for Dhaka city will be available. It means Dhaka will get only half of the electricity it requires. As a result, load-shedding will be frequent and unbearable for the residents.
The condition of REB is worse compared to last year's. some areas have to remain satisfied with 12-hour load-shedding in the areas under REB. For irrigation purposes, however, 12-hour electricity is ensured. But due to urban situation electricity for irrigation purposes will be under pressure.
In March last year the average electricity supply was three thousand 773 Megawatt. This year it has come down below 3500 Megawatt. During the fading period of Ershad's rule the donor agencies stopped providing aid to Bangladesh because of corruption and mismanagement. In Ershad's years the entire development activities were dependent on foreign aid. Due to suspension of aid in the electricity sector, everything came to a standstill. But there was one silver lining. The demand for electricity at the time was not as great as it is now.
When Khaleda Zia government assumed power in 1991 there was no planning for long-term demand of energy. The government rather closed down some power stations that were undertaken by the previous government. During the 1991-95 period the generation of electricity came to 520 Megawatt. When the demand reached a peak of 1500 Megawatt.
In 1996 when Awami League seized power, they took it as a challenge to raise the electricity capacity of the country. The government launched three barge-mounted electric stations and some others reforms as well. As a result the gap between electricity supply and demand was not very big.
In 2001 four-party alliance led by BNP started of governing with a shortfall of more than 1000 Megawatt. But BNP-Jamaat government failed to raise the capacity of electricity generation except Tongi power station with 80 Megawatt capacity. Khaleda Zia government scrapped all the plans for electricity generation chalked out by the previous Awami League government. But they failed to prepare any blueprint for making the country self-sufficient in power generation and distribution.
During the rule of Caretaker government of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed for two years irrigation was undertaken in day time and then faced no electricity problem. M. Tamim, associated with the interim government revealed that due to shortage of gas we could not utilize the production capacity for electricity. We have raised the electricity output by 500 to 600 Megawatts from the existing level.
The demand for electricity goes up by 10% every year. In the hot season there is a shortage of 600 to 800 Megawatts. In reality the Caretaker government has raised the power capacity to 600 Megawatt.
The Caretaker government's representative says, "As 400 Megawatt demand is raised every year, with the absence of new power station the nation faces a difficult and impossible situation."
Power and energy cannot be developed by a single country or by one company. No country in the world has made progress in power sector only depending on their own efforts. Foreign companies are active in India, Myanmar, Norway, USA, England, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia etc. One should not bid good-bye to the foreign companies. From the foreign companies experiences local companies can learn a great deal.
In the coal policy announced by the government, there is no scope for generating electricity from coal.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has recently told parliament "In the five years of BNP-Jamaat rule amount of taka 20 thousand crore was spent on power sector. But not a single electricity generation station was established. The money was used in the purchase of electric pole. The plunderers will have to face the music".
Sheikh Hasina last week directed the Power and Energy Ministry to examine whether gas could be diverted from fertilizer plants to power plants as the country was facing severe power shortage.
The Prime Minister gave the directive at the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet in the Cabinet division conference room at the Secretariat.
At this moment the country is not facing crisis of fertilizer. If there is sufficient stock of fertilizer examine whether gas can be diverted from fertilizer plants to the power plants, she said.
The Prime Minister observed that peak season of load-shedding had started and it would not be possible to meet the entire demand for power.
She also directed the Power authorities to give prior notice to the people when load-shedding would take place.
An expert on power and energy says, the present government did not start well so far as electricity generation is concerned. Everyone knows 25 years' neglect of this sector has created impossible and difficult situation. So before the grand alliance was catapulted to power, they should have made some "home work" and prepare a blueprint for overcoming the critical situation on power. The government should take measures to open up the closed power stations as soon as possible. They should not have guilty conscience as the present difficult situation is not of their making. Industry, business, household works, Boro cultivation, supply of drinking water all have been affected because of dearth of electricity. Immediately an efficient and pragmatic full time minister should be inducted in the cabinet who will tackle the power supply on war footing. When Lenin made revolution in Russia, the country was backward and technological advancement was poor. So Lenin declared, Communism means electrifying the whole country.
Currently for the development of a country public sector - private sector co-operation is essential for a breakthrough in the infrastructure sector. Only government enforcement will not be sufficient to overcome the current negative situation where government, donors and local entrepreneurs had let us down by not acting with wisdom.
A number of entrepreneurs involved in setting up of private power stations have given proposals to raise the country's electricity capacity. According to the entrepreneurs, in two months time it is possible to produce 110 Megawatt electricity in a few moment and 300 Megawatt in one year.
Even if the government desires to buy electricity in the shortest possible time (six months), the entrepreneurs are ready to meet the government condition. About one month back the proposals were put forward before the government which suffer from indecision.
Latest reports says the government has decided to suspen fertilizer production at Ghorashal and Polash and divert the gas used in the factories. Others industries based on gas supply may face rationing on the use of gas.
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