The government has decided on a coal policy but wants to leave it to the next government to make a final decision on it.
The current government took nearly five years to formulate a coal policy, which was a part of its electoral manifesto.
“We would like to leave the issue to the next government which would make a final decision on it,” Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said in his budget speech Thursday.
“We have completed preparations for formulating the coal policy,” he said, adding that the major question now is whether “we will use open-pit method of coal extraction from Barapukuria or Phulbari coal mine.”
This will necessitate rehabilitation of many families in a densely populated country like Bangladesh, added the minister.
Even more critical issue is the impact of open-pit mining on environment and underground water layers. Most of the contracts made for coal-based power plants depend on imports, he said.
“Opportunities are lacking for import of coal. If we can extract coal from our own mines and ensure smooth supply, our dependence on import will gradually diminish,” he continued.
Expert committee report on extracting coal has been finalised five months ago. The report is yet to be submitted to the government.
The report has been finalised on October 12, 2012. All related issues along with proper strategy of extracting coal have been included in it.
On September 8, 2011, the government formed a 15-member expert committee.
“We hope that during our tenure we would be able to import and supply Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). However, this project has been delayed. We expect that in the next one and a half year, it would be possible to construct the LNG terminal and transmission line.”
The finance minister, in all his four previous budget speeches, repeatedly pledged to set up the LNG terminal, but to no avail yet.
The government was supposed to import 500mmcfd liquefied natural gas from Qatar in the last fiscal year but the process was stopped.
Residential subscribers have to pay a maximum Tk450 a month for 24-hour gas supply through pipeline whereas a 12.4-12.5kg LPG cylinder now costs around Tk1,650 to Tk1,750.
Though the government fixed the rate at Tk700 for a 12.4-12.5kg cylinder, that rate has never been implemented.
The work of installing prepaid gas metres to prevent Titas Gas company bill manipulation and its misuse has made little headway as only 4,500metres have been set up against the target of 600,000 within 2013.
Besides, the work plan for installing prepaid electricity metres to stop its misuse has failed because the government has only managed to sign the contract so far in this regard.
For saving electricity, the minister in both his last two budget speeches said the government would distribute 17.5m compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), but nothing much had been done.
This year also, the minister pledged to distribute a similar number of lamps.
“The government has failed to materialise many of its previous budgetary pledges. As a result, it has utterly failed in meeting people’s expectations,” Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) Professor and energy expert Ijaz Hossain told the Dhaka tribune.
The proposed budget has reduced subsidy in the energy sector by 34%. This will severely affect the implementation of many of its projects, he added.