Whither the roadmap for the power sector?
Enayet Rasul | Thursday, 5 June 2008
IT came as very reassuring as well as very heartening amid all the gloom in the power sector when last year the government declared a roadmap of task lists for the power sector. It was a year by year plan under various short- medium- and long-term measures to raise power production in the country matching demand and then gradually to leave a good surplus by the year, 2015.
But one year down the road, the disappointment in this regard is a heavy one, indeed. The gap between power's demand and its availability has turned much worse. The much trumpeted roadmap in the power sector to which countrymen had been putting all their faith to deliver them from their agonies from a life without electricity, appears not to have progressed an inch. Small rental power plants were scheduled to deliver up to 800 mw to the national grid by May 2008 under the roadmap. But not even one megawatt of this power is available. The plans to set up these rental plans have fallen into total disarray. No one can now say for sure by what time these plants would be set up or start sending power to the national grid. The on-going plans for the establishment of big power plants under the public sector are similarly limping. No one knows when these will ever start their implementation process. Thus, the vaunted roadmap for a turnaround in the power sector is in shambles.
What is at stake is not only the comforts of household users of power. The economy is set on a nose-dive from the worst ever power crunch. Existing industries are reeling from the persisting shocks of unreliable and poor power supply. They are finding the going very tough from keeping production going by using generators and dangerously losing competitiveness and feasibility as a result. New industrial investment plans are on hold or have been abandoned by the potential entrepreneurs while the ones who have newly set up industries and services are unable to commence production or commercial operations from not having the power to run their enterprises. As it is, the severe power crunch appears poised to deal a death blow to the economy if it keeps on like this. All expectation of achieving even a reasonable growth of the economy looks highly suspect under the circumstances. Thus, it is no overstatement to say that power is now the economic problem number one in Bangladesh and deserves to be addressed with all the powers, resources and capacities at the disposal of the government.
According to a recent report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) , 64 per cent of industries of different types in Bangladesh have become heavily dependent on generators. This compares with 25 per cent in India and 2.0 or 3.0 per cent in Thailand and China. Thus, from having to produce their own power expensively, Bangladeshi industries have seriously eroded their competitiveness. If it has to go on in this manner, many could go out of business fairly soon.
Therefore, power generation must be at the top of the agenda of whoever rules Bangladesh . Power generation will absolutely have to be given the highest priority. If there is an election, then the political parties must be pushed hard to state in their election manifestos that increasing power generation at the fastest would be their main economic goal on going to power and to spell out in details and clear terms how they would realise their plans to this end.
The present government has only about six months left before it would be required to hand over power following an election. The short time remaining for it can be no excuse to just sit out the awful power crisis that has gripped the country. It is very regrettable that as a government which is considered to be a task-bound one and run by technocrats, it could not utilise the last one and a half years exceptionally efficiently and productively to limit the power related sufferings of the economy. This is not to say that this government has had no successes. It initiated badly needed reforms in diverse areas . But its major success could be giving a big boost to the power sector well within the time of its tenure in support of stepped-up economic activities. That this could not be done marks a major failure on its part.
However, there is still time before this summer is out for it to do everything on a war footing to increase power generation and improve transmission. To this end, it must act with exceptional energy and resolve to turn things around for the better. A balance of sorts between demand for, and supply of, power will automatically happen from reduced demand for it in the coming winter months. So, the challenge for the government is to try and achieve some success -- specially in augmenting the generation of power -- in the next couple of months to leave some record that it tried, after all, to do something to mitigate losses and suffering from power insufficiency. It must drive very hard indeed in these next few months to implement all the short-term plans which are there to increase power production and its distribution.
But one year down the road, the disappointment in this regard is a heavy one, indeed. The gap between power's demand and its availability has turned much worse. The much trumpeted roadmap in the power sector to which countrymen had been putting all their faith to deliver them from their agonies from a life without electricity, appears not to have progressed an inch. Small rental power plants were scheduled to deliver up to 800 mw to the national grid by May 2008 under the roadmap. But not even one megawatt of this power is available. The plans to set up these rental plans have fallen into total disarray. No one can now say for sure by what time these plants would be set up or start sending power to the national grid. The on-going plans for the establishment of big power plants under the public sector are similarly limping. No one knows when these will ever start their implementation process. Thus, the vaunted roadmap for a turnaround in the power sector is in shambles.
What is at stake is not only the comforts of household users of power. The economy is set on a nose-dive from the worst ever power crunch. Existing industries are reeling from the persisting shocks of unreliable and poor power supply. They are finding the going very tough from keeping production going by using generators and dangerously losing competitiveness and feasibility as a result. New industrial investment plans are on hold or have been abandoned by the potential entrepreneurs while the ones who have newly set up industries and services are unable to commence production or commercial operations from not having the power to run their enterprises. As it is, the severe power crunch appears poised to deal a death blow to the economy if it keeps on like this. All expectation of achieving even a reasonable growth of the economy looks highly suspect under the circumstances. Thus, it is no overstatement to say that power is now the economic problem number one in Bangladesh and deserves to be addressed with all the powers, resources and capacities at the disposal of the government.
According to a recent report of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) , 64 per cent of industries of different types in Bangladesh have become heavily dependent on generators. This compares with 25 per cent in India and 2.0 or 3.0 per cent in Thailand and China. Thus, from having to produce their own power expensively, Bangladeshi industries have seriously eroded their competitiveness. If it has to go on in this manner, many could go out of business fairly soon.
Therefore, power generation must be at the top of the agenda of whoever rules Bangladesh . Power generation will absolutely have to be given the highest priority. If there is an election, then the political parties must be pushed hard to state in their election manifestos that increasing power generation at the fastest would be their main economic goal on going to power and to spell out in details and clear terms how they would realise their plans to this end.
The present government has only about six months left before it would be required to hand over power following an election. The short time remaining for it can be no excuse to just sit out the awful power crisis that has gripped the country. It is very regrettable that as a government which is considered to be a task-bound one and run by technocrats, it could not utilise the last one and a half years exceptionally efficiently and productively to limit the power related sufferings of the economy. This is not to say that this government has had no successes. It initiated badly needed reforms in diverse areas . But its major success could be giving a big boost to the power sector well within the time of its tenure in support of stepped-up economic activities. That this could not be done marks a major failure on its part.
However, there is still time before this summer is out for it to do everything on a war footing to increase power generation and improve transmission. To this end, it must act with exceptional energy and resolve to turn things around for the better. A balance of sorts between demand for, and supply of, power will automatically happen from reduced demand for it in the coming winter months. So, the challenge for the government is to try and achieve some success -- specially in augmenting the generation of power -- in the next couple of months to leave some record that it tried, after all, to do something to mitigate losses and suffering from power insufficiency. It must drive very hard indeed in these next few months to implement all the short-term plans which are there to increase power production and its distribution.