No more sole-sourcing in energy procurement
Staff Reporter :
From now on, no tenders will be invited in the energy sector without an open competition, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Adviser Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said on Saturday.
“Due to the absence of competition in the power sector and the monopoly of a few companies, we are purchasing energy at a higher price.
For this, we have completely repealed the black law of 2010 and brought competition back to this sector,” he said while addressing a seminar organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).
“Due to the open tender for oil import, a 35 percent reduced price has been obtained compared to the previous one, which will save the country Tk370 crore,” he added.
The adviser mentioned that state-owned Petrobangla has sought clearance from the planning ministry to waive the mandatory feasibility study provision for implementing drilling projects at different onshore gas fields.
“This feasibility study needs to be conducted by a third party, which requires one year for gathering necessary data about a field.
We didn’t want to bypass the feasibility study, but all the data is available with Petrobangla, and it should be handled within the organisation itself,” he said.
Fouzul also pointed out that if a year is needed for the feasibility study, how can the job be completed quickly? “This is a time-buying tactic, and we should raise our voices against such a time-consuming provision.”
“Although I myself was part of the bureaucracy, now I have to fight with my own shadow,” he said.
Energy experts urged the government in the event to reduce import dependency in the energy sector and to explore gas reserves of the country.
Speaking at a seminar, energy expert Prof M Tamim, a member of the White Paper Committee on Economy said the deal with India’s Adani Power should be renegotiated as the cost of power from the company is much higher than that of domestic power plants.
Prof M Tamim, also a former adviser to a caretaker government, presented a comparative analysis of fuel-wise power generation cost where he mentioned that during the 2023-24 fiscal year, the Adani plant cost Tk 14.83 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) while the locally installed coal-fired power plants cost Tk 12.46 per kWh.
However, power imports from other Indian plants cost Tk 8.74 per kWh, lower than the country’s average generation cost of Tk 11.02 per kWh, he said.
“Earlier a supplementary deal was signed saying that Adani would keep coal price lower than Payra and Rampal, which has expired and the cost has increased,” the energy expert added.
Dr Badrul Imam, Honorary Professor at the Department of Geology at the University of Dhaka, explained that despite the country’s vast natural gas potential, exploration efforts have been insufficient. He also criticised the over-reliance on LNG imports to meet gas demands.