7th 5YP: Almost Tk2.5 trillion needed for transport and power and energy sectors

The country needs to mobilize around Tk1,487 billion for the transport sector and Tk962.2 billion for the power and energy sector at current prices to meet its development needs over the next five years.
This was revealed at a consultative meeting on ‘Chapter 5: Infrastructure Development Strategy’ under the 7th Five Year Plan (FY16-FY20) held at the NEC conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area Sunday, a news agency report said.
Chaired by Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, LGRD Minister Khondoker Mosharraf Hossain spoke on the occasion as the chief guest while Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan and State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid spoke as special guests.
General Economics Division (GED) member of the Planning Commission Prof Shamsul Alam made a slide presentation on the chapter.
Prof Alam, however, showed that around Tk1,315.3 billion would be required as ADP allocations for the transport sector under the 7th Five Year Plan (as per 2015/16 prices), while around Tk846.5 billion would be required as ADP allocations for the power and energy sector under the new plan.
Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, LGRD and Cooperatives Minister Khondoker Mosharraf Hossain said that the power and energy sector is playing a pivotal role in the country’s economy and without these two sectors, the nation’s development is unthinkable.
Regarding the growing demand for power, Mosharraf smilingly noted that the State Minister for Power and Energy might be in trouble unless there is 100 per cent electricity coverage in the country over the next three years.
Putting emphasis on upgrading the road geometric design to certain standards, the Minister said that his Ministry is improving the geometry of the countrywide roads under the LGED to link upazila headquarters to district headquarters.
Expressing his concern over the plying of overloaded vehicles on the roads and highways causing serious damages, Khondoker Mosharraf Hossain suggested the Ministry of Planning form a high-powered committee with the Roads and Highways Department to ensure strict enforcement of necessary laws, otherwise plying of overloaded vehicles would damage roads worth thousands of crores.
Noting that nature has started taking revenge due to the over exploitation of water, especially ground water, the LGRD Minister suggested taking steps to increase the water retention capacity of the countrywide rivers and water bodies so that the ground water is retained.
Housing and Public Works Minister Engineer Mosharraf Hossain put emphasis on utilizing local coal for utmost utilization of the energy resources, adding that the local coal by any means should not be exported abroad, rather it should be utilized domestically.
Mentioning that the Rajuk has been directed to approve design for constructing structures from this month at the Purbachal, Uttara and Jheelmeel areas, he said that the government would turn Purbachal into a self-contained independent city, perhaps as a green city.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that the government has targeted to increase power generation by 1200 MW-1500 MW every year and it is in line to achieve such target.
Informing the audience that some 13 power plants would come into generation by next year, the State Minister said that the government is planning to phase out the captive power plants in future since they are inefficient. In this connection, he said that efforts are underway so that those now involved in captive power generation could move towards power co-generation.
He cited that the challenges before the government in the power sector are to bring down the system loss in urban areas to single digit as well as to come out from the power subsidy trend in future.
Hamid said in order to become a higher mid-income country, there is a need to raise the per capita power usage to 600 KW and to attain such target there is a need for huge private investment since public investment is not enough in the power sector, including in transmission and distribution system.
Noting that local coal worth $80 billion is still beneath the earth, Nasrul Hamid opined that a strong political decision is needed for extraction of this coal or framing the coal policy.
Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal stressed the need for completing the development projects within the stipulated timeframe to avert misuse of funds and resources as well as to check corruption.
According to the draft strategy for the transport sector under the 7th Five Year Plan, emphasis would be on timely completion of all ongoing roads and bridges projects, especially related to inter-city highways.
Besides, a top priority would be fast-tracking a number of transformational infrastructure investments including Padma Bridge, Deep Sea Port, MRT-6 project, LNG terminal and the Paira Port Projects.
Under the targets for the power sector, the total electricity generation during the 7th FYP will increase by 12,853 MW, with around 60 per cent (7,682 MW) provided by the public sector, and around 40 per cent (5,171 MW) provided by the private sector.
-SS