The Power Division has sought 21 per cent higher allocation in the next development budget as it has taken up massive transmission upgradation programme across the country, officials said Thursday.
Power Division officials said they had sought Tk 296.67 billion in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for the next fiscal year (FY) 2018-19.
The government allocated Tk 245.30 billion in the revised ADP for the current FY 2018.
"We have sought the fund as some larger projects especially on the transmission sub-sector are being implemented to bridge the gap between supply and demand for electricity," said a Power Division official.
Besides, a handsome amount of funds will be required to execute some ongoing big power plant projects in the next FY 2019, he added.
According to the Power Division, they have sent their fund requirement proposal to the Planning Commission which is expected to be included in the next ADP to be implemented between July 2018 and June 2019.
Meanwhile, the Power Division has sought much higher funds in the upcoming budget from government's internal resources while lower from external resources (project aid).
Out of the proposed Tk 296.67 billion, the Division has sought Tk 187.30 billion higher allocation from internal resources while Tk 109.38 billion lower fund from external resources in project aid (PA).
However, the Division sought higher fund from external resources than internal resources when the current year's ADP was prepared.
In the current FY 2018, the government has allocated a total of Tk 245.30 billion -Tk 113.13 billion from government's internal resources while Tk 132.16 billion from external resources in project aid- in the current ADP.
Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) under the Power Division has been implementing some mega-projects including the 1200-megawatt (MW) Matarbari power plant at a cost of Tk 359.84 billion, 400MW Bibiyana power plant at Tk 33.58 billion, 1320MW Rampal power plant at Tk 145.10 billion, and 400MW Bibiyana-3 combined cycle power plant at a cost of Tk 33.58 billion.
The Power Generation Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) is implementing some large projects including 400/230/132kv grid network development at a cost of Tk 32.27 billion, Dhaka-Chittagong main power grid strengthening project at Tk 45.67 billion, Bangladesh (Bheramara)-India (Baharampur) cross-border transmission line upgradation project at Tk 14.05 billion, and Aminbazar-Mawa-Mongla 400kv transmission line project at a cost of Tk 13.57 billion.
A Power Division official said, "Since we need to enhance our power supply capacity along with higher generation target, we have taken up necessary generation, transmission and distribution projects."
Nearly 25 per cent people of Bangladesh are still out of the electricity supply as the government is yet to cover the gridline electricity in many villages.
Power is the top priority sector of the government as the country is struggling hard to overcome a huge electricity shortfall against the demand.
According to the power sector master plan 2010, Bangladesh's anticipated peak demand would pick up to 17,304 MW a day in the FY 2020.
The government is committed to generate 20,000MW of electricity by the FY 2021 when it needs investment worth billions of dollars.
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