State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid recently said that about 92 per cent people of the country are now getting uninterrupted power supply.
The country achieved the significant success in quality and reliable electricity production, he said adding that before 2009, only around 47 per cent had access to electricity.
The tremendous shift was a result of the government as they formulated a roadmap for the power and energy sector declaring it as a thrust sector with an aim to deliver power to every house by 2021.
As part of the roadmap, 251 upazilas have already been brought under cent per cent electricity coverage and 55 upazilas will soon be brought under power coverage and move is underway to bring the remaining 154 upazilas under electricity coverage by June 2019.
“Bangladesh will achieve its complete self-reliance on electricity very soon to bring every house under power supply facilities by 2021,” said the minister.
He called upon all for sincerely using power to save the national resource of electricity.
According to power and energy ministry, the government has installed 99 power plants, which was only 27 before 2009 and the power generation capacity has stood at 20,430 MW and power connections have been increased to a count of 31.5 million.
Over 20 million people have been brought under power coverage through 5.3 million solar home systems and presently, 55 power plants with an accumulated 13,654 MW electricity generation capacity are under construction.
Besides, tender is being processed for setting up 23 more power plants providing 7,461 MW capacity. The government has also undertaken a plan to construct 19 power plants with 20,156 MW generation capacity.
A consumer from Dhanmondi area Sajjad Hossain said that he experienced severe load shedding before 2009 and now he is getting electricity round the clock.
Sajjad, however, said the present government made tremendous success in power sector because of the farsighted and capable leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The government is also importing 1,160 MW power from neighbouring country, reports BSS.
Currently per capita electricity generation reached to 464 kWh. The record 11, 623 MW electricity was generated on September 19 this year.
State minister’s supervision transmission line has been expanded to 11,293 circuit kilometre, distribution line now stands at 0.476 million and capacity of grid sub-station (MVA) reached to 36,912.
Apart from this, power sector is unbundled with generation, transmission and distribution. It has six generation, one transmission and five distribution entities.
Sustainable Renewable Development Authority (SREDA) is the nodal agency for supporting sustainable and renewable energy development.
With the present government’s sincere and relentless efforts, natural gas supply increased to 2,700 million cubic feet in 2018 from 1,744 million cubic feet in 2009 and the number of gas fields rose to 27 from 23. The government conducted two dimensional survey of 16,696 line kilometre for searching oil and gas, while 5,236 square kilometres was completed over three dimensional survey and 19,412 line kilometre geological survey. Currently, the government brought down Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) price to Tk 850-900 for 12 kg from Tk 1,400 and the number of LPG firms rose to 18 from five.
The government has been constructing nuclear power plant, coal fired power plant, solar based power plant along other small scale power plants to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the country.
Moreover, the government had already installed Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) based LNG terminal at Moheshkhali and another one is being installed in the region under Cox’s Bazar district which will provide 500 mmcfd capacity by April 2019.
Besides, the government initiative to construct land based LNG terminal in the country for smooth supplying of gas aimed at ensuring energy security in the country.
