State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said there will be no load shedding in the upcoming summer season.
“At present, there is no load shedding in the country as the government has successfully been able to produce a generation capacity of more than 10,000MW and the situation will be the same during the summer,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
According to government estimations, the demand for electricity peaks during the Boro irrigation and summer seasons,which take place between March and May. They estimate the demand during this period to be around 7,500MW.
“We are capable of producing the required demand of electricity in the country. Oil and gas based power plants will be used at its highest capacity to meet the demand,” said Hamid, adding that “We have taken special preparation to provide uninterrupted electricity supply to the rural areas for irrigation during the summer season.
“There will be no such word as ‘load shedding’ in the country anymore,” he claimed.
The state minister also said the ministry has been working to eradicate bribery and corruption in the power and energy sector, especially regarding new electricity connections.
“We have plans to provide electricity connections to every household within the next five years. Distribution companies, including the Rural Electrification Board, have been working on it.
“We have received complaints from consumers that they had to paybribesto get connections. To prevent such, we will make the entire system technology-based as early as possible,” he said.
“An information wing will be formed under the ministry who will work to create awareness among the consumers against irregularities. They will also advertise the achievements of the power sector,” he added.
Admitting that there is a shortage of primary fuel needed to generate electricity, he said the ministry was trying to minimise the crisis. Accordingly, two compressor stations will be set up to maximise gas pressure within two months.
“The Hydrocarbon Unit under the Energy and Mineral Resources Division will be reformed so that it can work as the power cell’s think tank. It will help in the Hydrocarbon sector’s development and decision making processes,” the minister said.
According to Hamid, the country’s first floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) will be set up in due time, within one and a half years of a deal being signed with a contractor.
The FSRU, commonly known as a Liquefied Natural Gas terminal, will facilitate the import of 500 million cubic feet of gas per day at Moheskhali in Cox’s Bazar.
On January 29, 2012, the government inked a deal with India for the installation of a coal-based 1,320MW power plant at Rampal in Bagherhat. The plant will start production within the next five years.
In Habiganj, the construction of the Bibiyana Southpower plant, a 400MW gas-based combined cycle power plant project, will be completed within five years.
Meanwhile, the government will also keep a close watch on private coal-based power plants to ensure they start production on time.
“We have decided to bring all consumers under the prepaid electricity meters, scrapping the conventional meters by 2021,” he added.
Meanwhile, the state-own Dhaka Power Distribution Company, under a pilot project, will install 10,000 single-phase prepaid meters under the Azimpur Network Operation and Customer Services division soon.