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Power crisis likely to deepen this summer

JULFIKAR ALI MANIK
An acute power crisis may plague the coming summer.
Power sector officials said there is little possibility of enhanced power generation in the near future though the peak-hour demand in summer is likely to increase 10 percent, putting the requirement figure at around 4000 mw.
The demand for power last summer was 3600 mw on average and the usual supply shortage was 250 mw. The Power Development Board (PDB) provided 3592 mw on August 17 last year, the highest in the season.
The officials pointed out that demand for power registered an incremental rise by 10 percent a year.
Explaining the power generation situation, they said a 210-mw steam power plant at Siddhirganj on the outskirts of the capital may be commissioned by March 31. But
people involved in the construction of the plant for over seven years now think it is unlikely to generate power by the coming summer. It may take six more months to complete the project.
The 80-mw turbine power plant in Tongi is set to go into operation in October, well after the summer.
The PDB and the Rural Electrification Board (REB) are working on adding around 1200 mw of power to the national grid through installation of six more power plants. But neither of them is likely to be commissioned before the next year.
As an immediate bailout measure, the PDB has taken up a 100-day crash programme aimed at completing routine maintenance and repair of the existing power plants before the onset of summer.
The secretary of the Power Division and chairman of the PDP along with high officials of the power
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sector visited various plants on Thursday in a bid to gear up the process.
Last year, sudden shut-ups at some big plants caused major disruptions in power supply. The PDB wants to avert a recurrence of such a situation in the coming summer, sources mentioned.
PDB Chairman Syed Abdul Moyeed said they are trying hard to commission Siddhirganj plant right on the scheduled date -March 31. They have asked the Russian firm engaged in its construction to complete its task in time, he added.
Dhaka and its peripheries require about 50 percent of power generated in the country.
Phenomenal growth in multistorey apartment blocks and modern shopping malls resulted in a rapid rise in the capital's power demand, sources said.
Power crisis in summer could be minimised if consumers take up power austerity measures and peak-hour load management is efficiently done, they said.