State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has tariffs on power and gas will be adjusted in such a way that it would not create any burden on the people.
“I do not know how much the prices will go up after the adjustment as the energy regulator will set the prices. But it will definitely not be a big burden on people,” he said.
The state minister was addressing a citizens’ meeting organized by the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) at the National Press Club on Thursday.
CAB organized the function, with its president, Dr Ghulam Rahman, in the chair to unveil a book titled “Bangladesh Energy Transformation Policy 2022” (proposed). The event was also addressed by economist Dr MM Akash, architect Mobassher Hossain, energy experts Dr Badrul Imam and Dr M Shamsul Alam.
CAB placed an alternative proposal against the power and energy ministry’s move for raising power and gas prices, saying if the government provides a subsidy of Tk2,400 crore for the gas sector and Tk5,089 for the power sector, it will not need to raise the prices.
The alternative proposal includes enhancing local gas production and shutting down costly rental, quick rental and inefficient power plants and checking the misuse of power and energy.
Defending the government’s decision on LNG import, Nasrul Hamid said there is no alternative to importing gas as the demand for energy is increasing day by day.
“New industries are coming into production. There are 800 applications from industries to provide gas connections which are pending,” he said, adding that if LNG is not imported, many industries will face closure.
The government’s priority is to provide gas to industries as those provide thousands of jobs, he noted.
Dr Badrul Imam said the government has to import 150 million cubic feet of gas per day, and that this gas could easily be extracted from local gas fields through a workover process.
He suggested the government bring gas from Bhola to the country’s gas network through a pipeline.
Mobassher Hossain said it is not clear why the government failed to explore gas after many years of winning in the maritime boundaries with neighboring India and Myanmar while the two countries are extracting their gas.
Ghulam Rahman said the government has a tendency to increase its dependency on gas imports instead of exploring gas locally.
He said the people are immensely suffering from excessive hikes in the prices of essentials. “If the gas and power prices are raised now, it will trigger the peoples’ anger,” he added.