Energy shortage annually causes nearly US$ 16.6 billion economic loss to the country

BUET professor Ijaz Hossain on Thursday claimed that energy shortage annually causes nearly US$ 16.6 billion economic loss to the country.
He made the claim while making a presentation on “the Impact of Power & Gas Crisis on the export-oriented manufacturing sector” at a luncheon meeting at Sonargaon Hotel in the city, organized by Dutch-Bangla Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DBCCI).
Giving a calculation, Prof Ijaz said if 10 percent of the energy shortfall is assumed in the export-oriented manufacturing sector, its loss will be US$ 1.33 billion.
Prof Ijaz did not elaborate on the basis of his calculation, but said that the energy shortfall is 4 million tons of oil-equivalent a year.
Such remarks came from a professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) at a time when the country has been experiencing severe power and gas crisis.
According to the BUET professor, the country’s present power generation capacity is 4500 MW against a demand of 6000 MW while daily gas production is 2000 million cubic feet (MMCF) against a demand of 2500 MMCF.
State-owned Power Development Board (PDB) chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir, Netherlands’ Ambassador Alphons Hennekens, DBCCI president Rakesh Mohan, secretary general Osama Taseer and joint secretary general Sadi Chowdhury also spoke at the meeting.
Advocating for taking a prompt decision by the government to extract coal for diversified energy sources for power generation, Prof Ijaz said that the country has reserve of world-class coal with very low sulphur content, lower than 5 percent even.
“This coal should be immediately extracted for power generation to reduce the overall generation cost,” he said.
PDB chairman Alamgir Kabir said the government has moved for quick rental power plants as a short-term solution to the nagging power crisis. “We took these plants through direct negotiation with the sponsors.”