Establishment of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority in the offing

In a pre-budget meeting with the Bangladesh State Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, the Climate Parliament MPs have put forward a list of issues and demands to the Government for the development of renewable energy in the country.
The Budget session of Bangladesh Parliament will be convened in June.
The Bangladesh State Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, in this meeting between the Minister, MPs, government officials, and energy experts also shared that the executive order to establish the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA) will be issued this week by the Bangladesh Government. The budgetary code is already issued, to allocate the financial resources to SREDA in the forthcoming budget session of the Bangladesh Parliament. SREDA will finally begin its work in July 2014.
The meeting on 'SREDA Roadmap and Budgetary Support', organised by the Climate Parliament Bangladesh Chapter, was held at Bidyut Bhawan, Bangladesh Secretariat recently.
 With the establishment of SREDA, the Climate Parliament Bangladesh Group of MPs will achieve a milestone in their efforts to develop renewable energy in the country. SREDA was enacted through the Bangladesh National Parliament in December 2012, and the Bangladesh Climate Parliament group of MPs played a crucial role in this. Since the enactment of SREDA, the Climate Parliament MPs have been pushing the government towards its establishment and its budget allocation. However, it took more than a year of various parliamentary actions - meetings with the Power Minister, Memorandums to the Finance Minister, Memorandum and interventions in the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy, Round-Table discussions with government officials, experts and MPs - which have finally now ensured the actual establishment of SREDA in the country.
In the pre-budget meeting with the Bangladesh State Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, the Climate Parliament Bangladesh group of MPs also submitted a Memorandum to the Minister. The Memorandum was signed by MP Mr. Nahim Razzaq, convener of the Climate Parliament Bangladesh Steering Committee.
Climate Parliament MPs met the new Bangladesh Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources in end-March as well. In that meeting the Minister had assured the MPs that his Ministry would soon take a decision on the pending organizational and policy issues, to ensure the implementation of SREDA.
Mr. Tanvir Shakil Joy, Advisor, Climate Parliament Bangladesh Steering Committee, in his introductory remarks mentioned in detail the initiatives taken by the MPs in relation to the Climate Parliament chapter in Bangladesh, and how the interventions by MPs have a strong bearing on some of the recent governmental decisions regarding SREDA. Mr Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP and Bangladesh State Minister of Post, Telecommunication & Information Technology, was also present in the meeting.
The Bangladesh Power Minister has expressed his commitment to establish SREDA without further delay. However, he also expressed the need to establish more contacts with the Ministry of Finance and Law, who are presently finalizing the budget and several rules for renewable energy and energy efficiency. It was emphasized that the rules proposed by the concerned government department for renewable energy and energy efficiency should be strengthened. The Power Minister said that a concrete timeline to the road map is required. He also expressed the need for more involvement and discussion with the private sector. While appreciating the efforts of Climate Parliament MPs in pursuing the issues of renewable energy and SREDA, he requested the MPs and the Climate Parliament Bangladesh Chapter to keep pursuing this issue with the Ministries of Finance and Law.
The Memorandum asks the government to announce the establishment of SREDA and requisite budget allocation after accounting for adequate administrative, infrastructural and logistical support. It asks for the establishment of a Clean Energy Fund; announcement of incentives for domestic RE manufacturers and suppliers; Directives to Ministries catering to energy based services to promote renewable energy to deliver programmes effectively (prescribe a minimum percentage usage); indirect/direct tax incentives for private players to invest in RE (rooftop solar based captive power plants for industries); Announcement of a program to improve energy supply to small and medium scale industries through renewable energy; and channelizing soft loans through private sector banks.
In the meeting, Mr. Mohammed Hossain, Director General, Powercell gave a status update on SREDA. Mr. Dilder Ahmed Taufiq, Senior Advisor, GIZ, spoke on the key inputs for budgetary allocation for SREDA. Ms Sumedha Basu, South Asia Policy Coordinator, Climate Parliament in her presentation dealt with the immediate and long-term challenges of SREDA, in the context of comprehensive renewable energy development in Bangladesh.
The Meeting also took note of the fact that the Bangladesh's new renewable energy policy is in the process of finalisation, in which several of the recommendations and suggestions given by the Climate Parliament MPs are also being included.