Unplanned urbanisation and industrialisation is the major challenge for ensuring uninterrupted power supply, says State Minister for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid.
His comments came on Saturday while addressing a discussion on the power sector.
“Almost 92 percent of the country is now under electricity coverage. The per capita annual power consumption now stands at 464 kilowatt hours, which needs to be upgraded to 1,200- 1,500 for graduating to mid-income state,” he told the discussion organised by English newspaper Daily Sun.
It has been a difficult task for the power sector to keep its planning for generation, transmission and distribution when urbanisation and industrialisation are taking place in an unplanned manner, according to Hamid.
“Detail area plan is essentially required for not only capital Dhaka, but it should be required for all over the country.”
Chaired by Daily Sun Editor Enamul Haque Chowdhury, the roundtable discussion also heard from Power Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus, Rural Electrification Board (REB) Chairman Moin Uddin, Power Cell Director General Mohammad Hossain, BGMEA Senior Vice President Faruque Hassan, energy experts M Tamim and Ijaz Hossain.
Tamim said so far, the power and energy sectors’ development was made on the basis of imported primary energy.
Gas-fired power generation has come down to 59 percent from previous 90 percent which is a big challenge to provide electricity at an affordable price, he said.
The weakness in management will be another challenge for power and energy sector in the future, according to Tamim, who had served as the energy affairs adviser to the head of the military-backed caretaker administration.
Power Secretary Kaikaus said the government has taken different initiatives to create efficient manpower to face the challenges in the future in power sector.
The REB has provided 16 million new electricity connections in the rural areas in last three years, it Chairman Moin Uddin told the discussion.
“But we are yet to ensure quality power supply for which interruptions are taking place in different parts of the country.” he added.
Power Cell chief Hossain said the country's power demand will reach 40,000 MW by 2030 and the government has been moving ahead with a master plan to meet such demand.