ADB wants govt to forge greater partnership with private sector

FE Team | Published: October 26, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) wants the government to forge greater partnership with private entrepreneurs in promoting the country's power sector.
To that end, the Manila-based lender has assigned PriceWater House Coopers (PwC), a global consultancy, to conduct a diagnostic study on how public-private partnership can be strengthened with a focus on the power sector, long tainted by corruption and inefficiency, officials of the Power Division said.
The study, styled "Promotion of Public-Private Partnership in Power Sector" is expected to provide Bangladesh with a sense of direction on how to boost electricity generation, bring about more efficiency in the distribution system and foster innovation in the transmission mechanism.
A five-member team of experts led by Nana Siviyam will prepare the study report and submit it to the ADB to help Bangladesh determine its future course of action as it moves ahead with adding increased electricity to the national grid.
The consultants will complete preparing the report within 12 months starting from October.
The study will take a close look at the potential opportunities in the areas of generation, distribution and transmission, although the main thrust will be on the generation side, officials maintained.
"The consultants have already started their work and will primarily focus on the generation side as the country is facing severe electricity crisis," an official said.
"The study may recommend measures on how to replace the gas-based older power plants with new generation ones having sophisticated technology and improved heat rate," the official pointed out.
The study will also help ensure greater transparency in the power sector where irregularities in procurement and tendering are rampant.
"Procurement is the single most stumbling block to new power generation. The government could not materialise its plan to build a number of power plants in recent years, due either to irregularities in public procurement or corruption in tendering process," a Division official said.
Meanwhile, the caretaker government has planned to add nearly 500 megawatt (MW) of electricity to the national grid by next summer.
About 300 MW out of the proposed output will be available from the rental power units while the remaining 200 MW will be generated by overhauling some of the existing power units.
The interim authority has also plans to add a total of 1093MW electricity to the national grid by December 2008.
The total demand for power is set to hit 5000 MW by the end of next year.
"The PwC consultants will try to identify weaknesses in the sector and recommend future actions to overcome those," he told the FE.
In addition to generation side, the study will suggest improved ways on how to make the distribution channels more efficient and plug leakage by involving the private sector, the sources told the FE.
The study will recommend private sector participation in the transmission system on the Build-Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, according to sources.
Currently, the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh, a state-owned entity, is responsible for transmitting electricity.