State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid has once again raised voice in favour of raising power and energy tariffs.
He said the prices of petroleum fuels, natural gas and electricity should be revised considering funding for the upcoming electricity generation plan by the year 2030.
The government is working to increase electricity generation in future from the plants depended on imported coal.
“We have no plan to extract local coal for electricity generation taking consideration on livelihood of people in and adjoining to coal prospect areas,” state minister for power and energy Nasrul Hamid said as the chief guest at a roundtable on ‘Energy Challenges 2030’ organised by Energy and Power magazine at CIRDAP Auditorium on Sunday.
Besides, the government is considering a plan of fuel mixing for funding power plant projects for implementing its electricity generating target up to 40,000MW by the period, he said.
The government has decided not to provide new gas connections for captive power plants being used for industrial production only, he added.
“We have a plan to snap gas connections from captive power plants to divert it for base-load power stations,” the state minister said.
Mollah Amzad Hossain conducted the roundtable while Engineer Shaleq Sufi presented the keynote paper in the roundtable.
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman AR Khan, BUET Professor M Tamim and Professor Izaj Hossain, DU Professor Badrul Imam, Power Cell DG Mohammed Hossain, Dhaka Power Distribution Company Ltd Managing Director Nazrul Hasan, Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) Ltd Managing Director Shahid Sarwar, BPDB Chief Engineer Md Mizanur Rahman spoke at the roundtable.
State minister also said the government has undertaken a programme to import LNG to meet future energy demand in the country. For this, it would set up two separate LNG terminals in Chittagong and Khulna.
Besides, the government is conducting survey in the sea blocks to explore gas reserve for the future needs, he added.
Responding to state minister, BERC Chairman AR Khan at the roundtable said the BERC has so far completed hearing nine months back on power and energy tariffs. “It is required to raise power and energy tariffs,” he said.
Prof Badrul Imam said extraction of coal is a political decision instead of technical and economical matter.
Prof M Tamim said the production of gas in the country will be reduced in the next three to four years.