Not a single one of the 13 directives Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued to the Power Division a year ago has been carried out, allegedly due to a lack of coordination.
In her role as minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Hasina attended her office at the ministry for the first time on February 6, 2014 and issued 13 directives – all of which remain unexecuted.
The prime minister is scheduled to attend office for the second time on April 9 to review progress on last year’s agenda, an official of the ministry told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. In anticipation of the prime minister’s visit, State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid met with top officials in the Power Division to determine how much had been achieved.
A Power Division official, asking not to be named, said a lack of coordination between the Power Division and it’s subordinate agencies had stalled the implementation of the directives.
The directives include the transformation of the Power Development Board (PDB) into a corporation like Petrobangla, the formation of a company to conduct operations and maintenance of public and private power plants and the activation of two new distribution companies – South Zone Power Distribution Company and North-west Zone Power Distribution Company.
Hasina called for a new distribution company – the Central Zone Power Distribution Company – to be formed and for the transformation of the 740MW Ghorasal power plant into a corporation.
She also wanted the installation of solar-powered charging stations, the increased use of renewable energy in off-grid areas, the establishment of hydroelectricity cooperation by signing bilateral agreements with India, Nepal and Bhutan, the handing over of ownership of PDB’s old 100MW power plants to Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh and the exclusion of the power sector from the purview of labour laws.
The prime minister also called for a study on the feasibility of importing 100MW electricity from Agartala, India and another 250MW electricity from the Indian open market, an initiative to implement power plants with state-owned companies and foreign or local private companies and a tax holiday scheme for independent power producers – which was scheduled to end in June 2016 and is set to be extended till December 2018 under a second phase – in a bid to create an investment-friendly atmosphere for privately-owned power plants.
“These initiatives are in progress, but have moved very slowly,” a power division official said.
State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid was not available for comment, declining to receive phone calls or reply to an email from the Dhaka Tribune.
Shamsul Alam, energy adviser of the Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said: “It is frustrating that the prime minister’s directives were ignored. If this continues, the power sector will miss its progress target for 2021.”
