THE government hasjust held two international seminars on the pros-pects of hydrocarbon exploration in Bangladesh. The first seminar was held in London from March 24 to March 26 and the second, in Houston from March 31 to April 2. An eight-member delegation of the government has been holding these seminars with finance from the World Bank to make International gas and oil companies "aware" of the prospects of hydrocarbon reserves in 15 explorable blocks In Bangladesh. A large number of companies have attended these "promotional" seminars and soon they would submit their proposals for exploration in these blocks.

These promotional seminars were supposed to be held in July "96. But due to various reasons like political change, organisers' failure and bureaucratic tangles the schedule has been revised at least thrice. They have been delayed so much that now they have lost their utility. What is the purpose of promoting something which has already been promoted?

The energy sector of Bangladesh has been well promoted — if not by the government — by the success of Cairn in,hitting Sangu-1 well In January 1996. Hundreds of world-renowned oil and gas companies keep on coming to Bangladesh following the success of Cairn (which is an eye opener for all). Earlier, the then government made many promises but those did not make so much enthusiasm among the foreign companies as the discovery of Sangu has done. Because, the discovery was a hard fact and an evidence that foreign companies can work in Bangladesh and that there are tremendous prospects. Since then hundreds of companies submitted their proposals. Leading oil giants like Shell. Exxon and Halliburton have engaged their full attention here. Shell submitted a mind-boggling 200 billion dollar investment plan to the government. Halliburton's sister organisation Brown and Roots is investing nearly 200 million dollars for Cairn in the Bay of Bengal. Unocal Joined hands with Occidental in exploring Surma basin. Do you think they are still "unaware" of the prospects in Bangladesh?

Overenthusiasts tend to say that Bangladesh is "floating" on gas while even a conservative expert of Petrobangla says that Bangladesh has enough hydrocarbon reserves to change the face of economy almost "overnight", The Energy Minister himself believes that there could be as much as 60 trillion cubic feet (I) untapped gas in the country. We know it and the foreign companies know it. So what is the need for killing more time in "promoting" the "opportunities" of this sector?

In the past, no government took the energy sector seriously. Some looked at It as a "money making place", some simply casually and some seriously but without any "depth."

The past governments had filed a number of anti-corruption cases against some officials of Titas, PDB. Energy Ministry and other related bodies. But cases like AB Pipeline

kickback never saw the light of the day. Remember the Schimtter scam? Did anybody put the then Energy Minister on the dock for that ? No. Why? Because subsequent governments did not take these matters seriously.

Consider the case of the power sector. In 1971, Bangladesh had an installed power generation capacity of 550 MW while the demand was for 183 MW In peak hours, thus leaving a surplus of 367 MW. In 1980 our Installed capacity was 822 MW against a peak demand of 462 MW. In 1985, the installed capacity was 1141 MW against a peak demand of 887 MW. Even in 1990, the installed capacity was 2352 against a demand of 1509 MW. And now we have 2658 MW installed capacity against a peak demand of 2100 MW. Yet we can actually f'enerate around 1600 MW eavlng an astonishing shortfall of 400 to 500 MW. Why? Because of the AB Pipeline. The construction of AB Pipeline was disturbed because of corruption. But nobody was punished for the corruption. Worse of all, nobody took prompt action to build the AB Pipeline before the crisis began. Did the experts of the ministry not forecast early last year that there would be a crisis of 450 MW this season? What did the government do about it then? We are not aware of any action taken at that point of time.

We appreciate the government for giving considerable attention to the energy sector now. Still we should say there is a lack of understanding at the highest level of the government in dealing with problems of this sector. There had been much of "promotional talks" and "promises". We know, for decisions regarding hydrocarbon sector it requires some technical knowledge and understanding which again takes some time. But we didn't know such "some time" could be so much time that the country on turn is. now heavily affected and going to be affected more by the delay In decisions. Here is a list of delayed declslons/indecisions of the government;

A. The post of Petrobangla chairman remains vacant for the last three month's.

B. It took three months extra time for the PDB to conclude the bidding for three barge mounted plants.

C. The bidding procedures

naghat/HarJpur/Bagli^?£j power plants are delayed by a t , least three months. ' . . '

D. The Power Cell tWJ’cre-ated in mid-1995 to frame various important documents including a model Production Sharing Contract (PSC). The model PSC was okayed only a few weeks ago.

E. It took more than nine months to think and re-think and Anally okay the PSCs of Rexwood Oakland and UMIC when the government already had the experience of signing five PSCs before.

F. Why did it take so long to decide that load management should be enforced to minimise

> load shedding when the gov-’ eminent knew long ago that there would be a shortfall of 450 MW this year0

G The rural power company project has already been delayed by two years!

H. While the government is seeing no way for Increasing power supply, it never appears to have thought about considering a proposal of Midland Electric Company. UK to build allO MW power plant within "six months'" of signing final agreement.

Besides there are some serious issues which should be addressed immediately:

A There exists a serious tussle between the expert group and the bureaucrats within Petrobangla and the PDB which is affecting progress of work.

B. There goes on a constant unhealthy' battle between the PDB and DESA for the last five years.

C. There is a lack of motivation among the employees of PDB (with exceptions however) to carry out tasks promptly.

D. The trade union bodies in PDB and DESA are obnoxiously protecting thugs who believably devour up to Tk 400 crore a yearl

We know that the bureaucrats have answers for all these St ions. But we are tired of wise answers. We want to see some actions. And it's now or never. Bangladesh is standing on the edge. While bureaucrats continue to deliver defensive speeches (via the authority), towers are collapsing, cities are plunging into darkness and "fatmen” are getting away with public money.

So. the bollomline is:

A. Bangladesh does have tremendous hydrocarbon reserve potentials which can, if seriously explored, change the face of the country almost overnight.

B. There is already a tremendous enthusiasm among large oil and gas companies in investing in Bangladesh. Instead of promotional trips" it's high time the experts of Energy Ministry, Petrobangla and PDB be equipped to cater for the need of these companies.

C. The government should also keep an eye on the experts and officials concerned to avoid any chance of corruption. A corruption like that of Schimiter would lead us to a greater trouble. Recognition of talents and efficiency of experts and officials is a must to Most their morale and keep them to their commitments and thus avoid possible corruption. Allow officials and experts to talk to press freely so that the corrupted people can be cornered , easily or the corruption (if there -(sqhy) cinbe exposed. , .

f D. Maintain absolute trarts-'parency; Currently we need foreign Investfnerit "ahd we crltP else government's failures to draw investors' attention. But in the future the table might turn. Remember how the press reacted to the "child labour" issue of the garments sector? Ultimately Bangladeshis will stand beside Bangladeshis and the government will be benefited from maintaining transparency if it is on the right track.

E. Now we want to see actions. only productive actions without further wastage of time in any unproductive parley.