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Power cut to get worse in summer

Staff Correspondent
The power situation in the country could worsen during the approaching summer and officials yesterday said there could be as high as 1,000 megawatts of electricity shortage a day during peak hours.
"There could be up to 1.000MW of power shortage during the summer. But we may be able to manage and keep it between 500MW and 700MW," Power Secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters at Bidyut Bhaban in Dhaka.
Power cuts have become very
common for people across the country during the summer as demand goes up, even though the government claimed to have added 3,000MW of electricity to the national grid since assuming office three years ago.
On an average, Bangladesh produces 5,000MW of electricity and yesterday's load-shedding was 629MW, said an official of Power Development Board.
The official, however, did not think that there would be a repeat of the frequent power outages
seen a few years ago, when electricity supply would fail six to eight times a day in many parts of the country, with outage stretching from one hour to two hours.
"If the load-shedding could be equally distributed across the country, there would not be more than an hour's power outage," the official told The Daily Star requesting anonymity.
Power Secretary Azad said, "We are not being able to produce 1.200MW to 1.400MW more electricity due to scarcity of gas."
He was speaking at a press conference organised to brief the media about the latest power agreement deal between Bangladesh and India signed in New Delhi last week.
The deal was signed on February 29 between PDB and National Vidyut Vikas Nigam during a meeting of the Joint Steering Committee, headed by the power secretaries of the two countries.
Under the government-to-government deal of a 25-year tenure, Bangladesh hopes to get 250MW of electricity from the neighbouring country from June 2013.
Power from India will cost the end-users about Tk 5 per unit due to transmission costs, said Azad.
He also said Bangladesh would float a tender this month to award the order for
an additional 250MW of electricity to be bought from the open market of India at market rate.
The winning bidders must supply electricity by June next year, he said.
The secretary also said the work to set up transmission lines and substation was going on in full swing.
The Asian Development Bank is financing the project, which will cost Tk 1,100 crore on the Bangladesh part.
Azad also said a joint venture company between the PDB and the National Thermal Power Corporation, parent company of National Vidyut Vikas Nigam, has been set up. Its board will, for the first time, meet on the first week ofApril.
He said India also responded positively to Bangladesh's proposal to buy electricity fromTHpura.
"A technical committee has been formed. It will give a report within three months outlining how power can be brought to Bangladesh from Tripura."
During the India tour, Azad said they also sat with about 100 Indian investors. "We talked about the investment potential for the Indian companies in Bangladesh including in the energy sector. This investment proposal could be included in the work of the
technical committee."
"We also held one-to-one meeting with 12 to 14 companies. They have shown interest in investing in the energy projects in Bangladesh."
He said the Indian side also positively responded to Bangladesh's intention of importing power from Nepal. "The Indian officials told us to talk to Nepal first."
Azad also admitted that the power tariff is not fixed. "India’s Central Energy Regulatory Commission adjusts prices time to time."
But SM Alamgir Kabir, chairman of PDB, said, "We will have to abide by the decisions of Indian regulators. But we will have participation in the hearing, where we will be able to ask for explanation for any tariff adjustment."
He said the Indian electricity would replace the electricity that now costs Tk 12 to Tk 15.
Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, energy adviser to the prime minister, said they are getting immense support from development partners. “JICA [Japan International Cooperation Agency] has just shown interest in financing power projects worth 5.000MW."
Azad said the interconnected grid should be viewed as regional or intercontinental grid to measure its economic viability.