Govt alone won't go for big investment in power generation, says Tamim

Star Business Report


The government says its involvement in future power generation will be on the basis of a public-private partnership.

The government alone will not go for big investment in power generation system anymore, said the special assistant to the chief adviser for the power and energy ministry. "What we change in the power sector is that government is not going to invest in a big way in power generation anymore. All government involvement in the future will be a public-private partnership," Professor M Tamim told a discussion in Dhaka yesterday.The discussion on Need of Energy Producers and Government Perspective was organised by the International Business Forum of Bangladesh (IBFB) at a city hotel. Tamim said formulation of an energy policy is now under process, which will lift the universal subsidy that benefits the consumers who do not need it. "It's the state's responsibility to provide power to the poor. But today, everybody is not poor. The people who can afford do not deserve subsidy and that has to be lifted. This type of consumers has to be separated. We are in the process of doing it," he said, adding that merchant power plant by both local and foreign entrepreneurs will be allowed under the new policy. "The free market economy allows such a power plant concept. Anybody can generate power. But the government will neither ensure fuel nor purchase that power," Tamim categorically said, urging the entrepreneurs to find market and fix the price of their produce. "If you find anybody to purchase your electricity at the rate of Tk10, please go ahead, produce electricity and make business of Tk4 out of Tk10. I have no problem. But don't ask me for fuel, because government cannot provide fuel or gas," he said. To mitigate the power crisis, the present government has decided to replace the country's oldest inefficient power plants, the special assistant said.He assured the local entrepreneurs that they would be awarded the task of rehabilitating any power plant that falls inefficient. "The local entrepreneurs can bid on the basis of price. If anyone likes to replace the Ashuganj power plant, a 20 percent efficient one, the government will ensure gas supply and also purchase the electricity produced there,” Tamim went on, pointing it out that the equity share between the government and the private sector would be on 49-51 percent basis. Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury, president of IBFB, Jalal Ahmed, chairman of Petrobangla, M S Islam head of international cooperation of Grameen Shakti, Steve Wilson, president of Chevron Bangladesh, and Ajay Nambiar, director (commercial) of Cairn Energy Bangladesh, also spoke on the occasion. They laid emphasis on new investment on energy sector, suggesting a search for alternative energy to mitigate the increasing demand.

The Daily Star
19/06/08
Link:http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=41776