State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said that there is no hope of improvement in the ongoing load shedding situation before November, as gas could not be imported.
He made the remark while talking to reporters at his ministry on Monday.
He said the government has to operate some power plants on an alternative basis, due to the lack of adequate fuel supply.
"We keep some power generation units closed during daytime while others are shut down at night. That's why the extent of load shedding has increased", he was quoted as saying by the UNB.
The state minister had earlier made an assurance that after September, power supply situation would improve and there will be no load shedding from the first week of October.
When attention was drawn to his previous statement, Nasrul Hamid said that recently the demand for gas from industries has increased that prompted the government to divert some supply to them from the power plants. Production in industries has increased after pandemic, he said.
“We wanted that there will be no load shedding from October. We could not do that because we could not bring in gas……this is why the problem is occurring,” Nasrul Hamid told reporters.
He reiterated his call to people to be more patient regarding power and gas supply.
“Be patient, you may have to go through this situation for a month or two….. we are trying to improve the situation in the next month,” he added.
The state minister also hinted that the situation in energy supply may persist for a longer period as the global situation is different again.
