Addressing water and power crises in the city
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Sunday, 8 March 2009
Even though summer is yet to set in, water scarcity and power outage are visible in almost every part of the capital. In some areas of the city, citizens are seen coming to the streets and raising voice against the authorities' failure to supply water.
No water, no power -- life appears to be in mounting stress in some of the residential areas in Dhaka city. Persisting warm weather and scanty gas supply are adding to the woes of the citizenry. Residents of old Dhaka at Madartek, Badda, Shantinagar, Moghbazar, and Segunbagicha are the worst sufferers. Intermittent power load shedding and water crisis crippled life in the capital city, sending people on streets panting for water and cool air. While insufficient water supply in the capital on the one hand is causing immense suffering to the city dwellers, the spread of water-borne diseases is gradually becoming a health-threat on the other.
According to reports, Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) is now capable of supplying around 1.50 billion litres of water per day in the capital and Narayanganj town against an average summer time demand of over 2.20 billion litres. Normally, the Dhaka WASA can supply around 1.60 billion -1.65 billion litres of water to the residents of Dhaka city and Narayanganj town from its two water-treatment plants and 410 deep tube wells.
WASA is now facing severe crisis in lifting underground water as there is no back-up support of its deep tubewells to keep them operational during load shedding. Moreover, a significant number of deep tubewells are now out of order and the condition of the water treatment plant at Pagla is not satisfactory. Around 88 per cent of water is lifted through deep tubewells from the underground while rest is supplied from two treatment plants.
However, steps are under way to lift more underground water to meet additional demand despite power crisis. A severe power crisis has gripped the country, including the capital, because of the shortfall in power production. The power ministry said the maximum supply of power could reach around 3500 MW against the demand for 5200 MW in the country in the coming days of summer. The residents of many low profile areas including Mirpur, Kathal Bagan, Rampura, Khilgaon, Madartek, Shantinagar and old Dhaka are the worst victims of water crisis, leading to the rise in water borne diseases in those areas.
Different industries and service providers, mainly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), have been experiencing around 30-40 percent production loss following erratic power supply in the city. Besides, the businesses are paying at least 12 per cent extra as fuel costs for operating generators. Business activities are being hampered to a great extent because of power shortage. Production loss is not only reducing the profit margin but is also reducing efficiency in our production units. The worst sufferers of frequent power outages are the printing and publishing units as only a few of them use generators in their facilities.
Cost of doing business from offices has also risen as most of the commercial enterprises had to install expensive instant power supply (IPS) systems to continue business. Sales in most of the business houses has declined as customers are reluctant to shop at the time of power outages. Many businesses installed generator services but they cannot run the air conditioning. Most of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are suffering largely due to the power shortage. The SMEs need eight hours uninterrupted power supply as frequent power failure is forcing them to sit idle.
Earlier, analysts tended to believe that lack of political commitment and conflict in each of the organisations under the Power Division were mainly responsible the power crisis. There was intra-organisational conflict in almost every agency under the division. The power board has had five chairmen and the division has had four secretaries within a period of two to three years. If there was stability in the administration there would have been some accountability too.
Several quarters in the government said lack of investment was hindering power generation and thus creating power crisis. The power sector is not developing due to age-old bureaucratic inertia. All indications suggest that power situation would not improve soon although the present government is attaching topmost priority to the energy sector. The fact remains that if a decision is taken today to set up adequate power plants for meeting the power demand in years to come, the plants would come into operation after two or three years.
Workers and employees are often blamed for resisting so called reform programme in the water and energy sectors. But where is the so-called coordinated reform programme? The programmes changes almost every day. It frustrates the employees and they lose motivation to work. The financial condition of the power board is believed to be dismal as it pays power bills to power plants but the power agencies do not pay their bills to the board.
The erstwhile 4-party alliance government failed to install any new power project in its five-year tenure except for the 80 MW Tongi power plant which remained shutdown most of the times due to its sub-standard quality. In contrast the then government had doubled the number of power consumers -- mostly in the rural areas. During its tenure, power crisis aggravated as thousands of kilometre of electric lines were expanded on political grounds although generation had not increased to match them.
The then state minister in charge of power and the then Power Division Secretary were always at loggerheads over implementation of different power projects. Once the aggrieved minister told the media that he was helpless. He said nobody was helping him to resolve the power crisis. He could not implement any decision. Before he was asked to resign, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the power crisis was addressed. He believed it should be addressed in a more pragmatic and practical way. But he did not blame any individual for that. It's the total system that has failed to deliver according to the expectation of the people, he said. The sacked state minister for power apologised to the nation for his failure to meet the demand for power.
As for the present, life has become virtually impossible in the capital and elsewhere in the country as continuing severe power crisis has affected the nation with all consequences. City dwellers have been suffering from frequent load shedding for long periods while industrial production has also dropped due to power failure. The mills and factories remains open from 9:00am to 9:00pm, but the workers can hardly work for four or five hours a day because of power failure. Exports are feared to fall if the situation lasts long. Some machines in the mills and factories have gone out of order due to tremendous fluctuation in voltage.
It is worthwhile to mention unless energy sector grows in a planned way, economic development of the country is bound to hamper. If one industry remains closed for some reasons, a section of the people associated with the production and sales of the products are affected. But if a power plant remains closed for some reasons or power plants are not taken up for timely addition to meet the rapidly growing demand, the gamut of industrial and commercial activities are affected.
Due to high dependency on foreign loan for the development of power sector followed by high systems loss and poor management, power supply situation continued to deteriorate. Some age old power plants were in the process of rehabilitation in order to regain the lost capacity and to avoid complete shut down. Due to the unilateral decision of the donors, the age old power plants could not be rehabilitated and new projects could not be taken up to meet the growing demand of the system.
Amid mounting water crisis and power outage, the government must go for both short-term and long-term solutions of water and power crises. More underground deep tubewells should be set up and abandoned ones be repaired to meet the water crisis of the city. Overhauling of the closed power plants should be done as soon as possible and independent power plants should be encouraged to generate more electricity without any disruptions.
..............................................................
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com
No water, no power -- life appears to be in mounting stress in some of the residential areas in Dhaka city. Persisting warm weather and scanty gas supply are adding to the woes of the citizenry. Residents of old Dhaka at Madartek, Badda, Shantinagar, Moghbazar, and Segunbagicha are the worst sufferers. Intermittent power load shedding and water crisis crippled life in the capital city, sending people on streets panting for water and cool air. While insufficient water supply in the capital on the one hand is causing immense suffering to the city dwellers, the spread of water-borne diseases is gradually becoming a health-threat on the other.
According to reports, Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) is now capable of supplying around 1.50 billion litres of water per day in the capital and Narayanganj town against an average summer time demand of over 2.20 billion litres. Normally, the Dhaka WASA can supply around 1.60 billion -1.65 billion litres of water to the residents of Dhaka city and Narayanganj town from its two water-treatment plants and 410 deep tube wells.
WASA is now facing severe crisis in lifting underground water as there is no back-up support of its deep tubewells to keep them operational during load shedding. Moreover, a significant number of deep tubewells are now out of order and the condition of the water treatment plant at Pagla is not satisfactory. Around 88 per cent of water is lifted through deep tubewells from the underground while rest is supplied from two treatment plants.
However, steps are under way to lift more underground water to meet additional demand despite power crisis. A severe power crisis has gripped the country, including the capital, because of the shortfall in power production. The power ministry said the maximum supply of power could reach around 3500 MW against the demand for 5200 MW in the country in the coming days of summer. The residents of many low profile areas including Mirpur, Kathal Bagan, Rampura, Khilgaon, Madartek, Shantinagar and old Dhaka are the worst victims of water crisis, leading to the rise in water borne diseases in those areas.
Different industries and service providers, mainly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), have been experiencing around 30-40 percent production loss following erratic power supply in the city. Besides, the businesses are paying at least 12 per cent extra as fuel costs for operating generators. Business activities are being hampered to a great extent because of power shortage. Production loss is not only reducing the profit margin but is also reducing efficiency in our production units. The worst sufferers of frequent power outages are the printing and publishing units as only a few of them use generators in their facilities.
Cost of doing business from offices has also risen as most of the commercial enterprises had to install expensive instant power supply (IPS) systems to continue business. Sales in most of the business houses has declined as customers are reluctant to shop at the time of power outages. Many businesses installed generator services but they cannot run the air conditioning. Most of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are suffering largely due to the power shortage. The SMEs need eight hours uninterrupted power supply as frequent power failure is forcing them to sit idle.
Earlier, analysts tended to believe that lack of political commitment and conflict in each of the organisations under the Power Division were mainly responsible the power crisis. There was intra-organisational conflict in almost every agency under the division. The power board has had five chairmen and the division has had four secretaries within a period of two to three years. If there was stability in the administration there would have been some accountability too.
Several quarters in the government said lack of investment was hindering power generation and thus creating power crisis. The power sector is not developing due to age-old bureaucratic inertia. All indications suggest that power situation would not improve soon although the present government is attaching topmost priority to the energy sector. The fact remains that if a decision is taken today to set up adequate power plants for meeting the power demand in years to come, the plants would come into operation after two or three years.
Workers and employees are often blamed for resisting so called reform programme in the water and energy sectors. But where is the so-called coordinated reform programme? The programmes changes almost every day. It frustrates the employees and they lose motivation to work. The financial condition of the power board is believed to be dismal as it pays power bills to power plants but the power agencies do not pay their bills to the board.
The erstwhile 4-party alliance government failed to install any new power project in its five-year tenure except for the 80 MW Tongi power plant which remained shutdown most of the times due to its sub-standard quality. In contrast the then government had doubled the number of power consumers -- mostly in the rural areas. During its tenure, power crisis aggravated as thousands of kilometre of electric lines were expanded on political grounds although generation had not increased to match them.
The then state minister in charge of power and the then Power Division Secretary were always at loggerheads over implementation of different power projects. Once the aggrieved minister told the media that he was helpless. He said nobody was helping him to resolve the power crisis. He could not implement any decision. Before he was asked to resign, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the way the power crisis was addressed. He believed it should be addressed in a more pragmatic and practical way. But he did not blame any individual for that. It's the total system that has failed to deliver according to the expectation of the people, he said. The sacked state minister for power apologised to the nation for his failure to meet the demand for power.
As for the present, life has become virtually impossible in the capital and elsewhere in the country as continuing severe power crisis has affected the nation with all consequences. City dwellers have been suffering from frequent load shedding for long periods while industrial production has also dropped due to power failure. The mills and factories remains open from 9:00am to 9:00pm, but the workers can hardly work for four or five hours a day because of power failure. Exports are feared to fall if the situation lasts long. Some machines in the mills and factories have gone out of order due to tremendous fluctuation in voltage.
It is worthwhile to mention unless energy sector grows in a planned way, economic development of the country is bound to hamper. If one industry remains closed for some reasons, a section of the people associated with the production and sales of the products are affected. But if a power plant remains closed for some reasons or power plants are not taken up for timely addition to meet the rapidly growing demand, the gamut of industrial and commercial activities are affected.
Due to high dependency on foreign loan for the development of power sector followed by high systems loss and poor management, power supply situation continued to deteriorate. Some age old power plants were in the process of rehabilitation in order to regain the lost capacity and to avoid complete shut down. Due to the unilateral decision of the donors, the age old power plants could not be rehabilitated and new projects could not be taken up to meet the growing demand of the system.
Amid mounting water crisis and power outage, the government must go for both short-term and long-term solutions of water and power crises. More underground deep tubewells should be set up and abandoned ones be repaired to meet the water crisis of the city. Overhauling of the closed power plants should be done as soon as possible and independent power plants should be encouraged to generate more electricity without any disruptions.
..............................................................
szkhan@thefinancialexpress-bd.com