Power management
THE country is running acutely short of power nowadays. As a result, load shedding and the consequent suffering of the people have become grave and chronic. Many areas in the capital itself go dark and dry without power and water for hours everyday.
The present installed generation capacity is 3,600 mw, but ageing of the plants over the years has resulted in decline of generation capacity to about 2,950mw. The demand for electricity is more than 4,500 mw.
The capital city is now being provided with 1,185 mw of electricity against the demand for about 1,800 mw. But this demand will rise to 2,200 mw when summer arrives. City dwellers are likely to face severe load-shedding as they will get just half of the demand during summer.
People across the country are now experiencing frequent power outages that, in some places, last for about twelve hours in a day. Frequent power disruptions have been a constant source of misery for the people.
The high-sounding promises by the authorities, abolition of corruption-ridden Desa, and creation of Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) did not bring any respite to the suffering people. Recurring power failures have crossed the people's tolerance level and their frustration is now likely to give way to anger.
The way the caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed managed the critical power situation is really laudable. It suspended electricity supply to big shopping malls and less important small industries during evening peak hours, and cut power supply to billboards. Rationing of electricity and proper management of the sector helped to overcome the crisis to some extent. Surely, the power management is faulty.
The lack of proper coordination among officials of state-owned bodies in the power sector -- Power Division, PDB, Power Grid Co, DPDC, Reb and Desco -- has aggravated the power outage situation. There is a crying need to address the crisis most efficiently.
The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources is now under the control of the prime minister, an adviser and a state minister. Such triple-tier control sometime creates problem in quick decision-making. So, the energy ministry should be placed under a competent minister for its efficient management. Efficient and dedicated people must also be placed for proper management of the power generation and distribution systems.
Many important cities in the world have electricity rationing, where all shopping malls remain closed after evening. All shops in New Delhi close at seven in the evening.
We should also strictly follow this norm. If the big shopping malls in the city are closed at dusk, it will help to save nearly 75 mw, which could be diverted to other areas. The government has no other alternative but to drastically reduce power consumption in the less important sectors of the economy to overcome the crisis.
There had been huge allocation in the national budget for the power sector every year during the BNP-led four-party alliance rule, which allocated some Tk.16,409 cores in the five financial years for development of the power sector. But it had been able to add only a meagre 80 mw electricity during its tenure.
Bangladesh also spent $178,44,85,892 (equivalent to Tk.12,000 crore) for expatriate experts in the power sector in the last 15 years. This amount was spent for 148 foreign experts in six state-run power plants, excluding the cost for their accommodation, cars, medical, airfares and insurance. The amount spent in the name of technology transformation was quite enough for setting up at least five 1000mw capacity power plants in the country.
Currently, the country has about 85 lakh power connections covering nearly five crore people. The number of connections was 50 lakh five years ago. 3,100 mw power was generated in 2002, and stayed even with demand of 3,100 mw. In 2009, only 3,300 mw power is generated while the number of connections has almost doubled.
Bangladesh is a country hungry for more electrical energy, but fails to develop and deliver the necessary amount. The 15 years of democracy led to so many unrealistic programs for energy development, but made very little progress. These problems must now be solved with utmost sincerity and determined efforts, otherwise the country will never be able to get out to the power crisis.
This power crisis has not befallen the nation all on a sudden, but is the natural consequence of years of negligence. The efforts of the successive governments to increase power generation capacity had been quiet negligible, despite the Tk.16,409 crore spent in the five years. The present power crisis has exposed the avarice and weakness of the immediate past government. Such a situation is bound to happen when the lack of competence is complemented by greed for money.
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