The government plans to form a taskforce comprising representatives from government and private sectors to mitigate the power crisis, said Energy Adviser Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury yesterday.

Chowdhury sought opinions for the proposed taskforce from the business leaders at a seminar in Dhaka.

Power Secretary Abul Kalam Azad said, “The government is sincere enough to solve the power crisis and we have a plan to generate an additional 1,500 megawatt of electricity by the end of this year.”

They spoke at a seminar on “Promoting Primary Energy Efficiency in Industries” organised by Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) at its audi-

torium in Dhaka.

Azad said the government will finalise merchant power plants policy within next two weeks and provide details on it in newspapers.

As per the proposed policy, private sector entrepreneurs will have to express interest to set up a power plant, and then the government will give permission.

The power secretary said the government will purchase 30 percent of the power generated by merchant power plants at a competitive price and the private sector entrepreneurs can use the rest for their industries or sell to others on a competitive wholesale market.

He said, “We will introduce smart prepaid meter and card in a large scale to minimise system loss." At present the system loss is nearly 13 percent, which was 39 percent 20

years ago, he added.

The government will distribute an additional 1.75 crore units of CFL bulb within next three month to save power, saidAzad.

Speaking as a keynote speaker Ijaz Hossain, professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering, BUET, stressed the need for efficient use of energy. He said Bangladesh is losing nearly 2.6 percent of GDP growth due to power shortage.

Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, president of BGMEA, said, “Garment sector needs nearly 710 megawatt electricity per day. But it gets only half of the demand.”

AK Azad, president of the federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and Abdul Aziz Khan, managing director of Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company, also spoke.