The government's over-reliance on import of energy, instead of necessary efforts for local exploration, has resulted in the acute energy crisis these days.
The governments over the past one decade did focus neither on oil and gas explorations nor on local coal extraction - such initiatives could have helped the country overcome the present energy crisis.
Over-reliance on imported and expensive oil for electricity generation has worsened the overall situation further.
Professor M Tamim of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) made the remarks on the country's energy situation, while speaking as a panel speaker at a dialogue and media briefing organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue on 'Recent economic challenge: how vulnerable' in the city on Sunday.
The country first faced the crisis of primary fuel, like natural gas, coal and oil during 2007-08, when the then government stressed the importance of implementing tenure-based three-year or five-year rental power plants to run on oil as those were quick to install.
"But unfortunately these power plants are still running…," he said.
"So what we could do to ensure the source of the country's primary fuel?" questioned Mr Tamim, also a special assistant to a former caretaker government.
The previous governments could neither attract necessary foreign direct investment (FDI) from international oil companies (IOCs) nor invest sufficiently for hydrocarbon exploration nor move to explore local coal, he said.
Petrobangla did nothing significant to ramp up local gas production although the state-run entity knew that the local natural gas output would continue to decline after its peak production of around 2,700 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) after 2016-17, he said.
Although it recently took initiatives to add around 600 mmcfd of gas by drilling new gas wells, it will also have to consider that existing natural gas production of around 2,300 mmcfd is also on the wane, he further said.
Professor Tamim was also critical against continuation of capacity payment arrangements for the most expensive diesel-fired power plants and other power plants including those of public ones that run only few days in a year.
The government should shut the most inefficient and non-operated power plants, he suggested.
At the same time, the government should expedite the process of natural gas exploration and extract local coal to tackle the energy crisis, he added.
While speaking on business competitiveness at the event, Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, senior vice president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI), underscored the need for continuation of production in export-oriented industries at any cost.
Otherwise export-oriented industries will lose competitiveness in the global market, he opined.
Load shedding and low gas pressure in industries are hampering production as the government has no mechanism to supply uninterrupted electricity, he said.
Most of the industries are located outside the economic zones and BSCIC (Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation) areas, he said, adding that power load shedding was very rampant.
Areas outside Dhaka are experiencing three-time more load-shedding compared to the capital, he alleged.
The power outage and low gas pressure are increasing production costs in industries and the risks of missing shipment deadlines, he said.
Industry owners would have no option but to go for air shipments to reach their buyers, he said, while clarifying the reasons for cost escalation.
CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun delivered an introductory speech, while Dr Khandker Golam Moazzem conducted the event.
Azizjst@yahoo.com
