Power Division may get Tk 102.12b in next fiscal

The government has primarily fixed an allocation of Tk 102.12 billion for the Power Division in the budget for the next fiscal year (FY), 2015-16, officials said.
The proposed allocation would be Tk 9.28 billion higher compared to that of the current FY, they said.
Of the amount, the division will get Tk 36.85 billion as project assistance, while Tk 65.26 billion will be given from the government fund.
The government has allocated Tk 92.84 billion for the entity in this fiscal. Of the amount, Tk 47.78 billion has been planned to be provided from the government fund, and Tk 44.94 billion as project assistance, they added.
Under the Medium-Term Budgetary Framework (MTBF), every year the Power Division gets yearly budget ceiling and upcoming two-year budget forecast.
Under MTBF, some Tk 112.33 billion and Tk 123.57 billion can be projected for the
fiscal years 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively, the ministry data showed."The division is very important. A number of large development projects for the power sector have been undertaken. To implement these projects, the government will give necessary allocation to the division in the next fiscal, and the amount will increase in the next fiscal years," a high official of the Ministry of Power, Energy & Mineral Resources told the FE.

He also said the government is trying to develop the power sector since 2009. In line with the government's planning they are also emphasising power generation as well as distribution.
The development activities of the sector will be hindered, if the government does not provide adequate allocation for the division, he opined.
The ratio of the Power Division allocation in the budget has been significantly increasing over the last few years, as power is the major infrastructure sector that influences the country's overall economic growth, another official said.
Power sector has been identified as a thrust sector in the Sixth Five Year Plan. Ensuring smooth power supply is a pre-requisite to attract investment. On considering the sector's strategic importance, the Finance Division is gradually allocating higher allocation to the Power Division, he added.
Only 21 per cent of the Annual Development Programme (ADP) has been implemented in the first five months of the current FY. The Power Division has failed to start many of its planned projects, although there is no fund supply shortage. As a result, ADP implementation rate of the division is very poor, said the Planning Commission officials concerned.
In the primarily-fixed budget for the FY 2015-16, Tk 15.0 billion will be allocated for the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Tk 34.0 billion for the Rural Electrification Board (REB), Tk 3.7 billion for the Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited (DPDC), Tk 4.35 billion for the Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited, Tk 20.20 billion for the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB),  Tk 1.05 billion for the West Zone Power Distribution Company Ltd, Tk 6.0 billion for the Ashuganj Power Station Company Ltd (APSCL), Tk 4.50 for the Electricity Generation Company Of Bangladesh (EGCB), Tk 8.10 billion for the North West Power Generation Company, and Tk 4.0 billion for the Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL), according to the Power Division data.
[email protected]