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Saifur urges WB, ADB to release $300m credit for power sector
Finance Minister M Saifur Rahman Wednesday urged the World Bank and Asian Development Bank to lift the suspension of the 300 million dollar energy sector credit to Bangladesh for reactivating this vital sector to accelerate the pace of development, reports BSS.
He was addressing the inaugural session of the two-day energy sector development partners coordination meeting as the chief guest at the NEC auditorium In the city.
Presided over by Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Dr Kandaker Mosharraf Hossain, the inaugu-. ral function was addressed by Economic Relations Division Secretary Enam Ahmed Chowdhury, Energy Secretary Mohammad All, ADB Director S M Sadiq and Wo rid Bank Expert F T Temple.
Saifur Rahman blamed the long nine years autocratic and corrupt regime of H M Ershad for the accumulated system loss In the country's energy sector and said we are making desperate efforts to reduce he system loss for the sake of our own development and progress."
"We are cleansing it. We have restored the budgetary and the financial discipline after coming into power In the most free, fair and neutral election, he said adding "we are on the run and we arc committed to root out the system loss."
He listed various measures taken by the present democratically elected government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia to cleanse the en-
tire system. He said the coun try* economy was tn a very bad shape In 1990 but now it was the beet economy in the whole South Asia as per macroeconomic management was concerned.
"We are getting the fruits of our reform programmes, balance of payment situation is very good, foreign exchange reserve is of the record highest level, export is increasing, this year we are harvesting bumper bounty rice crops," he added.
Pointing to the World Bank President Lewis T. Preston's letter to him after his (Peston's) recent visit to Bangladesh, the Finance Minister said the World Bank chief highly lauded the macroeconomic management of the government as it was striving hard to accelerate the pace of development
Rahman said now there was no reason to continue the suspension of the energy sector credit and was added if the development partners continue the Suspension the government's all sincere efforts would be disrupted because of its dampening effects on the entire economy including wheat and winter crops production. Terming the system loss as theft, he said unfortunately the development partners had not penalised the autocratic Ershad regime for this highest level of Institutionalised corruption. If they had penalised on that regime then possibly the nation would not had caught up in this system loss problem, he added.
We are cleansing the accumulated inefficiency of the
Ershad regime and we are on the road of reforms and guaranteeing the autonomy of the public sector corporations, he said.
Rahman pointed out some of the World Bank suggestions and said the Power Development Board, Water Development Board and Jute Mills Corporation were now In a bad shape because the country had followed the' bank's prescriptions in 1962.
Let us have the perspective of our own environment considering the values, ethos and culture, he said adding one cannot implement everything overnight.
Energy Minister Dr Mosharraf Hossain called upon all the donors and international financial Institutions to enhance their present support to gas exploration activities alongwith appraisal and development of gas field in the country.
Dr Hossain also urged them to ensure the urgent and immediate effectiveness of the proposed gas Infrastructure development project so that the physical activities could proceed unhindered.
He said, the government was now working on the formulation of a comprehensive energy policy both for the short and long-term, and a high level committee was being formed to make concrete recommendations on an energy policy of the government.
Dr Hossain said. the power sector had been beset with a number of administrative and financial problems which had led to unusual system loss and consequently to a huge loss'to
the public exchequer.
Citing the examples of formation of DESA and REB to reduce the system loss, he said the various steps taken by the present government had also started showing positive results and he was optimistic that the consequences of these measures would bring about the desired changes in the near future.
The Energy Minister said the teething problems of DESA appeared to be gradually dis-, appearing and the government was expecting that the pur-Cse of creating DESA would realised soon.
The REB is also progressing steadily and we are hopeful of a much better performance and greater expansion in future. The PDB has initiated a number of measures to ensure better accountability and discipline while performing most satisfactorily in the field of project implementation, he added.
ADB Director Sadiq stressed the need for building up an effective system under the umbrella of an effective government and efficient market for sustainable development. He also underlined the role of market, margin and management trioto derive maximum benefits.
World Bank South Asia Desk's F T Temple lauded the steps taken by the present government to reduce the system loss and for opening up the energy sector to the private sector, he, however, stressed the need for discipline and accountability in the energy sector.