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Country needs $8b investment in energy sector: ICC-B

Star Business Desk
As the country faces an acute shortage of power, it needs an investment of $ 8 billion in the energy sector to fulfill the rising demand by 2025, said the International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICC-B).
Staggering shortages and frequently interrupted supply of power is considered to be the main bottleneck for Bangladesh to achieve its desired level of development to become a middle-income country by 2015 or so, the chamber said. .
“Had we been able to take appropriate steps for investment in the power sector over the last fifteen years, the country's per capita income by now could have been dose to $ 1,000 from the current level of $599," the ICC-B said in its latest quarterly news bulletin released yesterday.
Quoting the energy industry’ experts, the chamber said Bangladesh is facing three roadblocks and three opportunities for the development
of energy sector. Lack of proper strategy to cope with the increasing demand for power supply, depleting natural gas reserves, and exorbitant world price hike of petroleum and food is a big challenge for the sector, while quick development of hitherto neglected ever increasing demand for power and gas for growth and investment and low operating costs of business are positives for the energy sector, it said.
Referring to the government's estimate of 13.54 tef of proven and recoverable gas reserves, the chamber said Bangladesh is facing at least 100 million cubic feet of gas (mmef) shortages a day, as the country'can supply up to 1,738 mmef of gas against daily demand of 1,833 mmef.
"In order to achieve and maintain at least seven percent growth, the country would need supply of energy at a much higher rate to meet the increasing demand," it said.
According to latest official statistics, per capita power consumption in Bangladesh is
only 140 kilowatt hour (kwh) as compared to 325 kwh in Sri Lanka, 408 kwh in Pakistan and 663 kwh in India, it said, adding: "Moreover electricity is out of the reach of 70 percent people of the country. Besides, whatever is available is so erratic and irregular that nobody knows when it is going to come and go- it's like a hide and seek game."
The present installed capacity of power generation of the country is around 3500MW, against a demand of over 5000MW on an average. Even against the installed daily generation capacity of 3500MW, load shedding, which is a regular phenomenon, is in the range of 600MW to 1200MW. Out of this, 500MW to 600 MW is due to gas shortage. Stoppage or curtailment of gas supplies to industries or power plants have been aggravating the situation further, the ICC-B said.
Last year 87 percent of total electricity came from gas. Quoting experts, the chamber said ground reality of gas production does not suggest that
future generation can be continued based on mono primary energy, which is gas. The experts apprehend that the power crisis will not be over before the next 3-4 years. Worse still, the situation might worsen. This obviously hampers the much-needed growth of the industrial sector. Agriculture will also be affected severely due to power crisis, it said.
The power sector master plan suggests that Bangladesh requires 43.000MW electricity to ensure power for all by 2025. According to the plan, 76 percent of the requirement or 33.000MW will come from coal although now the percentage is only 5, the ICC-B said.
In USA, coal contributes to over 50 percent of the total power generation while in India it is 70 percent and the figure for the fast growing China is similar, it said.
On the other hand, the chamber said the Phulbari coal field, having a recoverable reserve of 572 million tonnes, has been forcibly stopped in the name of envi-
ronrnental preservation and conservation of nature by vested quarters in order to block the economic use of this huge power reserve.
Energy is the biggest challenge for the country specially when the oil price reached $ 146 per barrel and is apprehended to reach $ 200 by the year-end. It is indeed an irony that despite being blessed with such an energy asset (coal and gas), Bangladesh is one of the most energy-starved countries in the world, lagging far behind in its development initiative, it said.
"It is painful to see that the successive governments utterly mismanaged the energy sector to the detriment of the country's growth potential. Nevertheless, like many positive and bold steps taken by the present caretaker government during its year and half in office, they should leave behind an applicable action plan for the next elected government to put it in place immediately to action to achieve our desired level of growth and development,” it concluded.