Govt mulls 10,000mw power generation by 2024: Sajeeb

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The Information Technology (IT) Adviser to the ruling Awami League (AL) President, Sheikh Hasina, who is also the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Mr. Sajeeb Wajed, said in Washington since its assumption of office, the present government has taken initiatives to set up 15 government-funded and 19 private power plants, reports UNB, quoting a press release issued by the Bangladesh mission in the US capital and received in Dhaka on Thursday. Sajeeb Wajed stated this last Wednesday at a meeting organised by the Washington-based, the US Chamber of Commerce, to focus on the Asia Society Report on US-Bangladesh Trade and Investment Relations. A group of officials, business leaders and academics attended the meeting. Bangladesh Ambassador to the USA Akramul Quader and Ms. Tami Overby, Vice President (Asia) of the US Chamber of Commerce, also addressed the meeting. Jack Garrity, Executive Director of Asia Society, Washington, presented the report that also covered an update on important trade and investment statistics. Sajeeb Wajed said the present government in Bangladesh envisages generating over 10,000 mw of electricity by 2014. About various measures taken by the government to bring down the cost of doing business in Bangladesh, he said the processes, now being followed for acquiring land for setting up factories and accessing loans to banks, are "much simpler than in the past". Sajeeb Wajed said the government has "a grand plan" to modernise highways, introduce cargo flights for Biman, and construct a deep sea-port, with all modern facilities, and a new airport with the required cargo facilities. Addressing the meeting, Ambassador Quader urged the US investors to take advantage of the investment-friendly regime, particularly in the potential and promising sectors such as pharmaceuticals, information technology (IT) and electronics in Bangladesh. He said it is a welcome sign that Bangladesh's export to the US crossed US$4.0 billion mark in 2010. The export figure could be even higher had there been no tariff burden there in the US market on Bangladesh's main export items, he noted. The Ambassador said the US is Bangladesh's time-tested friend, while expressing the hope that bilateral relations between the two countries would further deepen in future. Presenting the updated facts on the scope of doing business in Bangladesh, Jack Garrity mentioned that Bangladesh's investment potential was yet to be fully tapped. To help overcome the risks involved in an excessive reliance on the performance of one single sector in Bangladesh's export trade, the speakers suggested that Bangladesh should think of developing backward and forward linkages in the readymade garment (RMG) sector and enhancing capacity for growth in other non-traditional sectors like processed food, pharmaceuticals, ship-building, IT and so on. In response to a question on education sector reforms, Ambassador Quader said the female education in rural Bangladesh, besides being free, also provides for giving cash incentives to the parents of female students to help arrest the trend about drop-outs.