Govt draws three-year plan to raise power generation
Friday, 8 June 2007
FE Report
The government has announced a three-year plan to increase power generation by 345 megawatts (MW) in the first year, 900 MWs in the second year and 1050 MWs in the third year.
Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam, in the budget speech for the fiscal 2007-08 Thursday, stressed the need for increasing generation of power in the next three years through expediting project work.
"We have taken up short, medium and long-term plans to meet the increasing demand for electricity," Islam said.
The government also issued directives to carry out speedy implementation of those projects, which are expected to add electricity to the national grid, by 2008-2009, he said.
The government is also trying to minimise load-shedding through load management and expedite maintenance work of the plants, which have been shut down for the purpose, he said.
This summer, the demand for power shot up to 5,200 MWs against the supply of around 3,500 MWs.
Currently, around 17 power plants out of 64 are remaining shut down either because of maintenance work or because of overhauling.
"The interim government has taken initiatives to complete the maintenance work of those power plants, which will add 600 MW electricity to the national grid, by the end of the year," the finance adviser said.
The issue of maintenance of those power plants was neglected earlier, he alleged.
To mitigate the fund constraints of the Power Development Board (PDB) and settle the outstanding bills of independent power producers (IPP), the government has provided a loan amounting to Tk 3.50 billion (350 crore) in the current fiscal year, he mentioned.
A provision of Tk 3.00 billion has been made in the budget of the next fiscal year to meet the likely deficit of the PDB.
'In addition, arrears amounting to Tk 5.25 billion got accumulated against different government and autonomous bodies as well as state-owned enterprises (SOEs) up to December last. The arrears have been paid during the current fiscal year,' he said.
The government has announced a three-year plan to increase power generation by 345 megawatts (MW) in the first year, 900 MWs in the second year and 1050 MWs in the third year.
Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam, in the budget speech for the fiscal 2007-08 Thursday, stressed the need for increasing generation of power in the next three years through expediting project work.
"We have taken up short, medium and long-term plans to meet the increasing demand for electricity," Islam said.
The government also issued directives to carry out speedy implementation of those projects, which are expected to add electricity to the national grid, by 2008-2009, he said.
The government is also trying to minimise load-shedding through load management and expedite maintenance work of the plants, which have been shut down for the purpose, he said.
This summer, the demand for power shot up to 5,200 MWs against the supply of around 3,500 MWs.
Currently, around 17 power plants out of 64 are remaining shut down either because of maintenance work or because of overhauling.
"The interim government has taken initiatives to complete the maintenance work of those power plants, which will add 600 MW electricity to the national grid, by the end of the year," the finance adviser said.
The issue of maintenance of those power plants was neglected earlier, he alleged.
To mitigate the fund constraints of the Power Development Board (PDB) and settle the outstanding bills of independent power producers (IPP), the government has provided a loan amounting to Tk 3.50 billion (350 crore) in the current fiscal year, he mentioned.
A provision of Tk 3.00 billion has been made in the budget of the next fiscal year to meet the likely deficit of the PDB.
'In addition, arrears amounting to Tk 5.25 billion got accumulated against different government and autonomous bodies as well as state-owned enterprises (SOEs) up to December last. The arrears have been paid during the current fiscal year,' he said.