Look back 2025: Energy sector gets prepared for next govt
Reza Mahmud :
The energy sector of Bangladesh gets prepared for the next elected government as the interim administration has reshuffled and arranged documentations to make it easy for the future initiatives, sources said.
Energy experts said several successes has been achieved in settling outstanding dues in the power and energy sector over the past year.
They said the interim government has suspended the special power act which was gone against the national interests. Those acts were hampered the energy sector’s progress severely.
When contacted, eminent energy expert Profess Ijaz Hossain on Friday told The New Nation, “Suspending the special power acts revived the sector. The country’s industrial growth’s bloodline gets back through this step.
“He, however, said, the government has not done something over curtail the high rate of power produced by Adani, Summit and other private power plants as the agreements were signed by an ‘illegal’ government.
When contacted, Energy Adviser Fouzul Kabir Khan told The New Nation, “We have tried our best to overcome all obstacles of the sector.”
He said, the interim government has readied all documentations for calling international tenders for offshore and onshore gas exploring which will make the task easy for the next government.
Some of the experts, however, said there is no sufficient initiatives have been taken in terms of structural reform, experts said.
They said the expected progress has not materialised due to several reasons including dollar market volatilities, fallen Hasina government’s deeds and such others.
Apart from these, the experts said, one adviser is burdened with responsibility for three crucial ministries.
The interim government has also failed so far to make any final decision on demands to reduce electricity and gas prices. In addition, sector stakeholders believe that renewable energy has not received sufficient policy-level priority.
During the previous government’s tenure, the power and energy sector was among the most corruption-ridden sectors.
At that time, costs increased elevenfold compared to electricity production. However, even over the past year, no major change has been seen in improving the qualitative standards of the sector.
Despite having the capacity, production at 15 out of the country’s 136 power plants remains suspended due to fuel shortages.
Moreover, technical faults have reduced the generation capacity of many plants. On the positive side, outstanding arrears in the energy sector exceeded three billion dollars during the previous government, which has now been reduced to between 500 and 600 million dollars.
Meanwhile, gas supply is declining steadily compared to demand. No visible progress has been made on this issue over the past year either. Currently, the gap between daily gas demand and supply exceeds 1,200 million cubic feet.
Experts say the government has achieved no significant success in gas extraction. Increased dependence on imports has driven up gas prices, placing a direct burden on ordinary consumers.
Energy expert M. Shamsul Alam said, “We had demanded three changes from the government. First, the repeal of the law allowing unjustified price hikes.
The government did repeal the law, but investments made under it earlier have been protected. Loss-making arrangements have indirectly protected corruption. Plunder is still continuing.”
According to experts, gas and electricity prices for industries and businesses remain at unreasonable levels. Coal and LNG are being imported at high prices.
Energy expert Ijaz Hossain said, “Many important initiatives have stalled during this government’s tenure.
What we call operational efficiency has declined alarmingly. While the government has shown interest in other areas, that same attention has not been evident in the energy sector.”
Meanwhile, no particular importance has been given this year to the development and use of renewable energy infrastructure. Currently, only 3.3 percent of total foreign investment is being directed to the renewable energy sector.
Experts believe that in the absence of an elected government, foreign investors are holding back due to a lack of long-term assurances.
As a result, critical initiatives such as offshore gas exploration have also remained ineffective.