We share the concern that our industrialists recently expressed regarding the ongoing power and gas crisis in the nation. Our manufacturing sector is facing an existential crisis as a result of chronic energy shortages. While ours is a rebuilding nation, a prolonged power crisis threatens each and every person in the country beyond our industrial sector.
These warnings must not be taken lightly and the consequences of inaction could be catastrophic: A collapse of investor confidence, widespread job losses, and perhaps most serious of all, potential social unrest.
While the reason we are in this crisis is due to the inactions of the previous administration, we must nevertheless devise solutions to ensure reliable energy supplies. This must be among the first priorities for this and subsequent administrations to address.
Against this backdrop, the recent approval by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) of nine major development projects -- two of which directly address power transmission and renewable energy integration -- offers a glimmer of hope and some much-needed first steps toward stabilizing the nation’s energy infrastructure. Indeed, their combined allocation of over Tk 4,600 crore signals a recognition, at the highest levels, of the urgency to modernize and expand the power grid.
However, optimism must be tempered with realism. Much like all of the previous megaprojects undertaken in the country, these projects will only make a meaningful difference if they are executed efficiently, within budget, and on schedule.
History should have taught us by now that Bangladesh cannot afford further delays or cost overruns, nor can it allow bureaucratic inertia to undermine implementation.
Our future must consist of pro-active investment working in tandem with decisive policy action to resolve the immediate power crisis and subsequent crises that will inevitably emerge. Only this will restore confidence in the country and steer us towards a meaningful rebuild.
