Overinvestment in the power sector during the seventh five-year-plan ending in June this year has cost the nation over Tk 30,000 crore in overcapacity charge paid to owners of private power plants for their unused capacity. The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) made the disclosure on Thursday as a national daily reported saying the overcapacity in power sector reached 44 per cent by now with 10,061 megawatts added during the past five years. The increased power capacity would have been even higher at 80 per cent of the plan’s target if it could be fully achieved and this failure as per CPD has actually helped the country.
The CPD has made the figures ready after the damage done. It also has the habit of telling half truth for doing others to do the complete damage. It has said that Tk 30,000 crore in over capacity charge has been paid to private power plant owners. They should have said more. The money was paid to government’s own
people. Many other private power plant owners were denied payment forgetting they invested money in producing power. They have been ruined.
Meanwhile, power generation only leaped forward without simultaneous improvement in power transmission and distribution systems and reducing system losses also remained unmet only to add to financial burden on the nation. Experts have rightly raised question as to why so many rental plants were allowed to produce power without parallel rise in demand in the first place and also without upgrading the national grid to achieve higher demand.
As we know the country’s power generation capacity has tremendously increased over the past decade under the Awami League government as private power plants set up mainly by party men had found investment in power sector lucrative to make windfall profit. They won unsolicited contracts at exorbitantly high unit cost and surprisingly the government has extended the deadline of retirement of many such projects even after expiry contracts by June this year. Meanwhile presence of such power plants is causing delay in quick commissioning of many public sector power plants to supply electricity to the nation at low cost.
Report said the government allowed investment in power sector going beyond the annual target. It had planned to produce 12,584 MW during this period but over 9,000 MW capacity was achieved which again largely remain unused because of low demand. But since the authorities are under contractual obligation to pay the government must pay. For producing power heavy machinery investments were made.
Why the government did not take timely action to stop producing power when not needed. Many private owners supplied them power, but they are denied payments arbitrarily.
How Tk 30,000 crore have distributed the CPD should find out. Obtaining figures from government files is not enough of an investigation.
We have failed to punish the criminals. But new generation of leadership is bound to come. They may not be collaborators of the big thieves.
Reportedly 51 power plants are sitting idle and government is not settling payments to shut them down.
The CPD has made the figures ready after the damage done. It also has the habit of telling half truth for doing others to do the complete damage. It has said that Tk 30,000 crore in over capacity charge has been paid to private power plant owners. They should have said more. The money was paid to government’s own
people. Many other private power plant owners were denied payment forgetting they invested money in producing power. They have been ruined.
Meanwhile, power generation only leaped forward without simultaneous improvement in power transmission and distribution systems and reducing system losses also remained unmet only to add to financial burden on the nation. Experts have rightly raised question as to why so many rental plants were allowed to produce power without parallel rise in demand in the first place and also without upgrading the national grid to achieve higher demand.
As we know the country’s power generation capacity has tremendously increased over the past decade under the Awami League government as private power plants set up mainly by party men had found investment in power sector lucrative to make windfall profit. They won unsolicited contracts at exorbitantly high unit cost and surprisingly the government has extended the deadline of retirement of many such projects even after expiry contracts by June this year. Meanwhile presence of such power plants is causing delay in quick commissioning of many public sector power plants to supply electricity to the nation at low cost.
Report said the government allowed investment in power sector going beyond the annual target. It had planned to produce 12,584 MW during this period but over 9,000 MW capacity was achieved which again largely remain unused because of low demand. But since the authorities are under contractual obligation to pay the government must pay. For producing power heavy machinery investments were made.
Why the government did not take timely action to stop producing power when not needed. Many private owners supplied them power, but they are denied payments arbitrarily.
How Tk 30,000 crore have distributed the CPD should find out. Obtaining figures from government files is not enough of an investigation.
We have failed to punish the criminals. But new generation of leadership is bound to come. They may not be collaborators of the big thieves.
Reportedly 51 power plants are sitting idle and government is not settling payments to shut them down.
