Energy & Power

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Bangladesh in great need of power
Farid Hossain

The summer last year was too bad. Our miseries were compounded by frequent power outages. Rioting over electricity and water left several people killed and many injured. The electricity-related violence also made national and international headlines. The miseries were all because of a huge shortfall in the production of electricity that led to huge load shedding. The outages also severely hurt industrial and agricultural production -- factories and irrigation pumps sitting idle due to lack of power.

The upcoming summer is going to be no different. The forecast is already ominous: a shortfall of about 2,000 megawatt of electricity is being anticipated in a day. One difference this time is that we have a new interim government which seems to be serious in its efforts to manage as much electricity as possible and cut down the power outages.

The caretaker government has planned to buy power from the private companies. It is also prepared to go to India for power shopping in addition to its plan to install new plants to generate electricity. An effective management of load shedding is also in the agenda of the caretaker government.

Last week, Power and Energy Advisor Tapan Chowdhury held a really fruitful meeting with the Dhaka-based businessmen. It was decided at the meeting that the shopping centers in the capital city will not get electricity from DESA or PDB during the evening peak hours -- from 6pm to 11pm. This meant that the shopping centers will be on their own, relying on their own generators during this period. The measure -- likely to be effective this week -- is expected to save about 400 MW of electricity, a great relief for a country plagued by severe power crisis.

The government is also considering purchase of electricity from neighboring West Bengal to try to meet the summer shortfall, when the demand for power will soar because of sultry weather and the need for operating the irrigation pumps.

However, it is already encountering some hurdles in the implementation of this idea. Experts are already saying that it may take up to three years to build lines and other infrastructure for transmission of power from the West Bengal. That means even if a deal is signed the Indian electricity is not coming to power this year or even next year.

But Bangladesh is in great need of power -- right now. We can't wait for long. The other hurdles are related to the cost. Whether the import of electricity is feasible or cost-effective for Bangladesh is a matter of great concern for our government. A misstep in this regard may cause a political and even diplomatic maelstrom.

We will have to wait and see if the interim government of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed will take that risk, even though international donor agencies like the Asian Development Bank favor such a deal.

This leaves the government with the choice of producing more electricity or allowing the private sector to install more power plants, from where the government can buy the energy. That also takes time. Also the question is whether this caretaker government has time enough to take up such major projects.

So, the caretaker government faces tough choices and stiff challenges. However, it will not be blamed for the crisis that it is going to encounter this summer.

For the electricity shortage is one of the many legacies the caretaker government has inherited from the government of the immediate past Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Widespread corruption, unwise planning and unpardonable negligence by Khaleda's government have pushed the country to this crisis. The caretaker government has thus an extra responsibility of exposing this corruption and see to it that those responsible for the public miseries are put on trial.