Mr Khondkar Saleque wrote in ebangladesh.com that Bangladesh managed to achieve an effective power generation capacity of 3500MW till 2009 and three and half years since then present government added 3300MW new power. Without fuel constraint the total generation could be 6800MW.
He said “Some persons may not like the way the new power generation has been added but all must appreciate that in a country like Bangladesh it is no mean achievement.”
He however added “But government failed to anticipate impacts of price increase of liquid fuel in volatile world energy market requiring huge subsidy obligation. Government failed to initiate exploration of own sweet coal, government failed to advance traditional fuel based major power plant installation. Fuel constraints restrict power generation to about 5200 MW to 5500MW against an increased demand of 7500MW. Consequent deficit does not make visible of positive impacts of new power generation as load shedding continues and people criticize.”
He wrote “Government has serious failures in managing demand growth, arranging fuels for power [failures in exploration of own coal and expediting gas exploration] and advancing implementation of traditional fuel based major power plants. While government failed in these areas it achieved mixed success in power and energy sector. Government could not change the culture of favoring political victimization of competent, experienced and qualified professionals in power and energy sector. Consequently government favored less inefficient professionals failed to make proper planning of power and energy projects, implement key projects on time or manage maintenance and operation of generation, production , transmission and distribution of power and gas supply . There has been no progress in exploration of own sweet coal resources and mine mouth coal plants , only mining operation at Barapukuria has grown sicker , minimum progress has been achieved in gas exploration and development . Government has to continue relying on very expensive liquid fuel based power generation. Wrong professionals misguided government into making wrong planning of importing coal and LNG leaving our substantial coal resources underground and making no sincere efforts of exploring huge untapped petroleum resources at onshore frontiers and offshore.”
He concluded that “While government can be credited for adding about 3300 MW new power to national grid and about 400MMCFD new gas to gas grid it still failed to manage demand and reduce deficit. While we cannot criticize government for non actions we must make them accountable for flawed actions, poor management and failures in arranging required fuel for power and industries. Policy makers must acknowledge their mistakes and try to learn lessons themselves rather than telling critics to learn. Inexperienced critics must not also blame government for everything .Some wrong actions are still better than inactions.”
Read the full article at http://www.ebangladesh.com/2012/06/30/crisis-management-in-bangladesh-power-energy-sector/
Source - ebangladesh.com
(www.coalguru.com)
