Prioritising strategy for power sector

Inaugurating a small rental power plant in Fenchuganj last year, the prime minister declared her government's target of achieving power production capacity of 7000 megawatt by 2013 and thereby minimising the existing load- shedding significantly. Time will say whether the target will be achieved or not, but the government may have succeeded in increasing power supply a bit at the cost of huge financial loss and public sufferings. The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC), as reported in the media, has recently increased the power tariff by some 20 per cent, which will be effective in two phases, ignoring the capacity of the common people. It is pertinent to remember that the government earlier in February 2011 hiked the power tariff by 5.0 per cent while it increased bulk price of power by 33.57 per cent in November 2011, to reduce government subsidy to the power sector drastically. The power and energy price hikes, as is well known to all, are being effected to reduce the subsidy bill and this has reached alarming proportions ever since the government decided to opt for quick rental private power plants to increase the supply of power in the country. So far, as many as 18 quick rental power plants have been approved and 14 of them are operational now. To fuel these power plants, the additional cost for the current fiscal year, as projected by the World Bank, is between Tk 52 billion and Tk 56 billion, which is about 0.6 per cent or 0.7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Excess payment for quick rental power plants has already affected various government economic decisions. Obligation for import of fuel oil to meet the requirement of the rental power plants is posing a serious threat to the economy as this is drawing down the foreign exchange reserves very swiftly. The government has lately decided not to approve any more rental power plants; however, it seems that the maximum damage has already been done. The time has now come to shift the focus from quick rental power plants to long-term power plants. Be that as it may, what was distinctly missing from the government's plan is the utilisation of Bangladesh's own resources like coal and taking initiatives to extract coal and gearing up the pace of the exploration of new gas fields. Again, sometimes the maximum power generation by the Power Development Board (PDB) becomes uncertain if some of its plants go out of operation because of overload and technical glitch. Most of the power plants need proper maintenance to deliver optimum output. Moreover, we cannot even meet a requirement of 6000-7000mw and the demand for electricity is likely to rise to as much as 10,000-12,000mw by 2020. It would be impossible to achieve such a target with total reliance on gas as the only energy source. It is more or less certain that the gas crisis would worsen in the coming years, forcing the country to rely more on imported fuel oil to generate power. Will the country be able to foot the soaring fuel oil import bills in the coming years without hurting the country's development activities? This is undeniably a very thorny issue that deserves a befitting attention of the government. What is most important now is that the government should finalise at the earliest its strategy for the power and energy sectors. The strategy should prioritise the following: Finalising the coal mining policy; implementing large coal-based power plants; gearing up gas exploration; phasing-out quick rental power plants as soon as possible; and keeping the old power plants in workable condition through proper maintenance and repairs. Email: shafiqul0032@yahoo.com