The power division would get Tk90.5bn in the upcoming budget for the next fiscal year, which is Tk11.7bn or 15% higher than the allocation for outgoing fiscal year, officials said.
They said an expenditure of Tk55bn would be provisioned for subsidy on the power sector, which is little higher than the subsidy allocation of about Tk52bn of the previous fiscal year.
The Energy and Mineral Resources are expected to get about Tk23bn in 2013-14, which is up by Tk6.7bn than the current fiscal year’s budget of Tk16bn.
A subsidy of Tk90bn would be allocated for the energy division for the next fiscal, around 45% more than the allocation of Tk62bn in the outgoing fiscal year.
Energy division officials informed that there are a total of 38 projects in the current annual development programme (ADP), which was reduced to 36 in the revised ADP. In comparison, the new ADP will get 27 projects.
Officials said the energy ministry has undertaken a move to implement a good number of development projects through newly formed Gas Development Fund (GDF) beyond the ADP.
In the last three budget speeches, the finance minister continued to say the government will reduce the price of liquefied petroleum gas (lpg), but the price kept on rising over the last three years, mounting pressure on the consumers.
Consumers have been blaming the lack of standard monitoring by the authorities, offering opportunities for the unscrupulous LPG dealers as well as the retailers to charge even double than the standard rate for the cylinder gas.
A 12.4-2.5-kg cylinder of lpg now costs at a range between Tk1,650 and Tk1,750 as compared to the government-fixed rate of Tk700 per cylinder.
On the other hand, residential gas users have to pay a maximum of Tk450 a month for 24-hour gas supply through pipe line.
The government had undertaken a project to import 500mmcfd of liquefied natural gas from Qatar starting from the last fiscal year, but the process remained almost stopped.
Meanwhile, the expert committee report on lifting coal has been finalised five months ago, but the ministry has not yet submitted it to the government.
“It has not been possible to submit the report to the government,” the committee convenor Md Mosharraf Hossain, also a former chairman of Petrobangla, told the Dhaka Tribune. “We hope we will be able to submit the report soon.”
The report has been finalised on October 12, 2012. All related issues along with proper strategy of lifting the coal have been included in the report.
The government had formed the 15-member expert committee on September 8, 2011.
The government was supposed to replace incandescent lamp instead of energy saving CFL bulbs. But it could not even start the process.
The government was also supposed to install prepaid electricity meters but the initiative did not see full success.
