Bangladesh goes ahead by an hour
Saturday, 20 June 2009
FE Report
Bangladesh set its clocks forward by an hour from 11 pm Friday in a move to better utilise daylight and ease power shortage.
This means that businesses will open and close an hour earlier than usual, thanks to the first ever Daylight Savings Time (DST).
But the timing of different offices, schools and other institutions would remain unchanged. Bangladesh becomes GMT+7 from GMT+6.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina released a special commemorative stamp from her Jamuna residence Friday night when clocks across the country were reset an hour ahead to 12 midnight.
DST is practised in many countries, exploiting daylight by advancing clocks so that evenings have more natural light and mornings have less. The sun, in effect, sets 'an hour later' on Saturday.
The Energy Division launched a massive campaign and has taken other steps to increase public awareness and make the transition as smooth as possible for people.
The Energy Division estimated that the measure would help save at least 200 megawatts of electricity a day across the country.
Energy officials said the programme will run primarily for four months, but may be extended if it yields positive results.
The ever increasing demand for electricity has unleashed power shortage in Bangladesh in recent years, hampering productivity and pushing up the costs of doing business.
Bangladesh can generate up to 3800 megawatts (MW) of electricity daily against a demand of 5000 MW, thus leaving a daily supply crunch of nearly 1000.
Power outage robs the country of 1.0 per cent of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) a year, according to the World Bank.
The Washington lender has figured out that Bangladesh would require $1.5 billion annual investments for power generation, transmission, and natural gas exploration.
Shops and malls that traditionally remain open till 8:00pm would now use one extra hour of daylight.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) announced that the central bank's half-an-hour lunch and prayer break would be moved to 2:00pm from the present 1:00pm.
The office timings of the Supreme Court and its subordinate courts have been rescheduled for implementing the government decision to advance the clock.
The High Court hours have been re-fixed at 10:30 am and 4:15 pm with a 45-minute break in the afternoon while its office hours will be 9:45 am to 5:00pm with a half-an-hour break at 2:30pm, according to a press statement. The new timing will be effective from June 21.
Timings of subordinate courts will be 9:30 am to 4:30pm while their office hours will be 9:00am to 5:00pm with a half-an-hour break from 2:30pm.
The cabinet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair took the decision early this month to introduce DST in Bangladesh to address the country's energy shortages, particularly during the summer period.
This arrangement aims to save energy by reducing artificial lighting in the evening, when the demand for power normally peaks.
Nearly 70 countries around the world, including the US, Britain, Japan and Pakistan, have been able to save on power consumption by using the DST system.
Bangladesh set its clocks forward by an hour from 11 pm Friday in a move to better utilise daylight and ease power shortage.
This means that businesses will open and close an hour earlier than usual, thanks to the first ever Daylight Savings Time (DST).
But the timing of different offices, schools and other institutions would remain unchanged. Bangladesh becomes GMT+7 from GMT+6.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina released a special commemorative stamp from her Jamuna residence Friday night when clocks across the country were reset an hour ahead to 12 midnight.
DST is practised in many countries, exploiting daylight by advancing clocks so that evenings have more natural light and mornings have less. The sun, in effect, sets 'an hour later' on Saturday.
The Energy Division launched a massive campaign and has taken other steps to increase public awareness and make the transition as smooth as possible for people.
The Energy Division estimated that the measure would help save at least 200 megawatts of electricity a day across the country.
Energy officials said the programme will run primarily for four months, but may be extended if it yields positive results.
The ever increasing demand for electricity has unleashed power shortage in Bangladesh in recent years, hampering productivity and pushing up the costs of doing business.
Bangladesh can generate up to 3800 megawatts (MW) of electricity daily against a demand of 5000 MW, thus leaving a daily supply crunch of nearly 1000.
Power outage robs the country of 1.0 per cent of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) a year, according to the World Bank.
The Washington lender has figured out that Bangladesh would require $1.5 billion annual investments for power generation, transmission, and natural gas exploration.
Shops and malls that traditionally remain open till 8:00pm would now use one extra hour of daylight.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) announced that the central bank's half-an-hour lunch and prayer break would be moved to 2:00pm from the present 1:00pm.
The office timings of the Supreme Court and its subordinate courts have been rescheduled for implementing the government decision to advance the clock.
The High Court hours have been re-fixed at 10:30 am and 4:15 pm with a 45-minute break in the afternoon while its office hours will be 9:45 am to 5:00pm with a half-an-hour break at 2:30pm, according to a press statement. The new timing will be effective from June 21.
Timings of subordinate courts will be 9:30 am to 4:30pm while their office hours will be 9:00am to 5:00pm with a half-an-hour break from 2:30pm.
The cabinet with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair took the decision early this month to introduce DST in Bangladesh to address the country's energy shortages, particularly during the summer period.
This arrangement aims to save energy by reducing artificial lighting in the evening, when the demand for power normally peaks.
Nearly 70 countries around the world, including the US, Britain, Japan and Pakistan, have been able to save on power consumption by using the DST system.