The National Electricity Week began in the city yesterday with a call to be economical in using power keeping in mind the energy security of the future generation.

President Abdul Hamid inaugurated the event at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

”We must consider the energy security for the future generation. We'll have to keep in mind that electricity production is an expensive process which needs a lot of investment," he said at the openingceremony.

"We must come out of the mentality of using electricity as per our sweet will. We'll have to be economical in using electricity thinking about the future generation. ”

The president also suggested reducing the system loss, now at 12.26 percent, in addition to increasing the use of environment-friendly renewable energy sources to reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

Hamid said increased power production is necessary for the country.

The government plans to raise electricity production to 24,000 megawatt by 2021 and to 40,000mw by 2030, as part of its plan to provide electricity to all.

“The supply of electricity is important to implement the programme Electricity for All. So, we'll have to increase our capacity

to produce electricity," said Hamid.

As of 2014, Bangladesh has about 10,650 megawatts of power generation capacity, with production standing at 6,000mw, accord-ing to state-run Power Development Board.

Although the government has doubled the power generation capacity as well as the production since 2009, Bangladesh is still one of the most energy deficient countries in South Asia, and energy shortages are estimated to cost the economy up to 2 percent of gross domestic product growth.

Around 60 percent of the population has access to electricity in the country where power consumption has increased by 11 percent annually in the decade since 2001.

As part of the weeklong event, a three-day fair on electricity equipment and associated businesses began at the same venue where 97 public and private organisations are taking part. The exhibition will remain open from 10am to 8pm everyday.

Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources; Tajul Islam, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the power, energy and mineral resources ministry; and Monowar Islam, secretary of the Power Division, also spoke at the opening ceremony.