Prime Minister's Energy Adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury welcomed power outages Tuesday as he said if there is no load-shedding, people will forget improvement achieved by this time.
"Sometimes load-shedding is good to some extent. Otherwise, people will forget the progress achieved in electricity generation," he said.
Load-shedding should be there to some extent to keep the past in mind, he said and urged all to have patience to see development in the power sector.
The adviser made the remarks while talking to reporters on the sideline of a function arranged for signing deal for a 1,320 megawatts (MW) coal-fired power plant.
The signing ceremony at the Bidyut Bhaban was also addressed by Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali, Chinese Ambassador Li Jun, Power Secretary Monwar Islam, PDB Chairman Abduhu Ruhullah and China Huaduan Corporation President Cheng Niongao.
State-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the China Huadian Hong Kong Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of the China Huadian Corporation to set up the power plant at Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal under a joint venture.
The BPDB and the Chinese firm would form a joint venture company to build the power plant, which would be financed 70 per cent from debt and 30 per cent through equity.
The power plant project would be executed on build, own and operate (BOO) basis.
The plant is expected to be commissioned by 2019.
The BPDB will purchase electricity from the project for 25 years term.
Speaking on the occasion, the PM's Adviser requested the Chinese firm to complete at least one unit of the plant within next four years.
Relating to allegation of load-shedding, Mr Chowdhury said though the country's power generation capacity is 10,000 MW, it could hardly generate 7,000 MW.
Power plants having the generation capacity of around 2,000 MW are now under maintenance and some rental plants cannot generate power to their full capacity due to the prevailing heat wave, he said.
Recent storms at different parts of the country also affected the local power system, resulting in the increased power cut, he added.
He said Bangladesh also signed a deal with India for setting up a power plant of the similar capacity at Rampal, Khulna.
Both the power plants will use the state-of the art technology to keep pollution at a very minimum level and their dust management will be highly efficient, he said.
Addressing the deal signing ceremony, Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali said the contract between two state-owned companies of Bangladesh and China is a new milestone in the field of cooperation.
He said this will give a new shape to Bangladesh's relation with
China as the government unveiled a plan to generate 39,000 MW by 2030.
As part of the plan, about 11,000 MW of electricity will be generated by 2018, he added.
Chinese Ambassador Li Jun said this is a new milestone for energy sector cooperation between the two countries.
China and Bangladesh are natural development partners.
Bangladesh is a promising destination for investment, he said.
