'Unplanned urbanisation' stands in way of power sector dev

State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid said on Saturday unplanned urbanisation and industrialisation posed the biggest challenge to the power sector in ensuring uninterrupted power supplies, reports UNB.
He made the remarks while addressing a roundtable on 'Power for All' at East West Media Auditorium in the city.
With Daily Sun editor Enamul Haque Chowdhury in the chair, the function was also addressed by Power Secretary Dr Ahmad Kaikaus, Rural Electrification Board (REB) chairman Major Gen (retd ) Moin Uddin, Power Cell Director General Mohammad Hossain, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Senior Vice President Faruque Hassan, eminent energy expert Dr M Tamim and Dr Ijaz Hossain.
Nasrul Hamid said it proved a difficult task for the power sector to keep its planning for electricity generation, transmission and distribution when urbanisation and industrialisation are taking place in an unplanned manner.
He said such unplanned development forced the planners to frequently change their original plans.
He said it became tough to make prediction about the future demand for power when such unplanned development happens.
The state minister said a detailed area plan is essentially required not only for Dhaka, but also for whole Bangladesh.
He directed the power sector officials to strictly follow the government's recent plan on developing the economic zones where only industries will be developed.
Ahmad Kaikaus said the government took different initiatives to create efficient manpower for facing the challenges in future in the power sector.
The REB chairman said his organisation provided 16 million new electricity connections in the rural areas in last three years.
"But still we are not being able to ensure quality power supply for which interruptions are taking place in different parts of the country." he added.
Mohammad Hossain said the country's power demand would reach 40,000 MW by 2030 and the government was moving ahead with a master plan to meet it.
Dr. Tamim said so far power and energy sector's development was made on the basis of imported primary energy.
He said gas-fired power generation came down to 59 per cent from previously 90 per cent which is a big challenge to providing electricity at an affordable price.
He said the weakness in management would be another challenge for the power and energy sector in the future.
Dr. Ijaz Hossain said repayment of foreign debt would be a major challenge for the country's energy and power sector as it would push up the cost.
He said the country's local gas price is $1.1 per mcf whereas it will be as high as $10-12 when gas will be supplied from imported LNG.