State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid has said that after successful power generation through private sector, the government is now contemplating the sector's participation in power transmission and distribution as well.
'We're now assessing the possible impacts of private sector's investment in power transmission and distribution', he said while addressing a seminar titled 'Bangladesh Power Conclave 2018: Transforming the future of the Bangladesh Power Sector' at Sonargaon Hotel in the city on Sunday.
Bangladesh Independent Power Producers Association (BIPPA) and Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) jointly organised the seminar.
Nasrul Hamid said the demand in power sector is growing at 20 per cent and the government is now paying attention to providing electricity to all by 2021.
He noted that presently about 8.0 million lifeline consumers are getting electricity at Tk 2.0 per unit for which the government has to provide huge subsidy.
`We will require to provide subsidy to power sector to become a developed nation by 2041 as power production cost is still high`, he said.
The seminar, with BIPPA President Latif Khan in the chair, was also addressed, among others, by Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) Executive Chairman Kazi Aminul Islam, PwC Managing Partner Mamun Rashid, International Finance Corporation (IFC) official Mashiur Reaz, and Standard and Chartered bank`s managing director Naser Ejaz.
Nasrul Hamid noted that government has been pursuing an `energy-mix` policy in combination with liquid fuel, coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in power generation in order to come out of the subsidy.
Once the power generation cost comes down to a reasonable level through the energy mix policy, it will be possible to come out of the subsidy, he said.
The junior minister said the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) was asked to continue the subsidy in power sector for next 4 to 5 years, reports UNB.
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