Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The government’s ambitious power generation plan faces serious setback due to delay in implementation of new power plants and up-gradation work of distribution and transmission system.
They said the concerned agencies are now implementing a total of 52 projects, including mega power plants, under the Power Sector’s Road Map. But their progress is not satisfactory.
Earlier, the government has allocated Tk 11,540 crore for the development of power and energy sector in the current fiscal. Out of the total allocation, Tk 9,228 crore was earmarked under the Annual Development Projects (ADPs) of the power sector.
“Out of the allocated fund, the Power Division could spent only Tk 1,015 crore during July-October period of the current fiscal, showing its poor implementation capacity,” said a senior official of
Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry.
He said the implementation status of the ongoing projects is simply disappointing and it will lead to rise in project overrun cost, putting burden on the national exchequer.
“Such a delay will also help to foil the government’s aspiration of electricity access for all people by 2021”, he noted.
A senior PDB official preferring anonymity told The New Nation yesterday that the government is facing major challenge to implement its Power Sector’s Road Map as several large power projects are yet to make any headway over the last couple of years.
“Bureaucratic bottleneck, delay in tender process, poor capacity of the implement agencies, fund crisis and land acquisition have created a road block on the way to their implementation,” he added.
To achieve the goal of middle income country, earlier the government has set a power generation target of 24,000 MW by 2021.
Implementation of most of the large public sector’s power plants, including Shikalbaha (225MW), Shahzibazar (330MW), Bheramara (360MW), Haripur (412MW) Shiddhirganj (335MW) Bhola (225MW) and Chapainawabganj 100MW, are going on in a snail pace rasing concern that they might not come out into production by the scheduled time-frame, he apprehended.
He pointed out that the construction work of Shikalbaha power plant was initiated in two years back with an estimated cost of Tk 2,022 crore. “But the authorities could have spent only Tk 5.0 crore until October this year with a poor implementation status. A similar situation was prevailing to other public projects also,” he added.
On top of this, the private coal-fired power projects were also lagging behind schedule.
Among those are three coal-fired power plants of Orion in Khulna (totalling 1,200MW capacity) and two in Dhaka by S Alam Group (another 1,200MW capacity).
The Orion projects, awarded against a very low power tariff, are awaiting the government’s environmental clearance from the middle of this year.
The country’s biggest electricity project, Rampal 1,320MW coal power scheme, is also running more than a year behind schedule.
“We are determined to keep on track the ambitious plans to ramp up power production but how can we achieve the milestone without timely implementation of the proposed power plants,” he said.
The government’s ambitious power generation plan faces serious setback due to delay in implementation of new power plants and up-gradation work of distribution and transmission system.
They said the concerned agencies are now implementing a total of 52 projects, including mega power plants, under the Power Sector’s Road Map. But their progress is not satisfactory.
Earlier, the government has allocated Tk 11,540 crore for the development of power and energy sector in the current fiscal. Out of the total allocation, Tk 9,228 crore was earmarked under the Annual Development Projects (ADPs) of the power sector.
“Out of the allocated fund, the Power Division could spent only Tk 1,015 crore during July-October period of the current fiscal, showing its poor implementation capacity,” said a senior official of
Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Ministry.
He said the implementation status of the ongoing projects is simply disappointing and it will lead to rise in project overrun cost, putting burden on the national exchequer.
“Such a delay will also help to foil the government’s aspiration of electricity access for all people by 2021”, he noted.
A senior PDB official preferring anonymity told The New Nation yesterday that the government is facing major challenge to implement its Power Sector’s Road Map as several large power projects are yet to make any headway over the last couple of years.
“Bureaucratic bottleneck, delay in tender process, poor capacity of the implement agencies, fund crisis and land acquisition have created a road block on the way to their implementation,” he added.
To achieve the goal of middle income country, earlier the government has set a power generation target of 24,000 MW by 2021.
Implementation of most of the large public sector’s power plants, including Shikalbaha (225MW), Shahzibazar (330MW), Bheramara (360MW), Haripur (412MW) Shiddhirganj (335MW) Bhola (225MW) and Chapainawabganj 100MW, are going on in a snail pace rasing concern that they might not come out into production by the scheduled time-frame, he apprehended.
He pointed out that the construction work of Shikalbaha power plant was initiated in two years back with an estimated cost of Tk 2,022 crore. “But the authorities could have spent only Tk 5.0 crore until October this year with a poor implementation status. A similar situation was prevailing to other public projects also,” he added.
On top of this, the private coal-fired power projects were also lagging behind schedule.
Among those are three coal-fired power plants of Orion in Khulna (totalling 1,200MW capacity) and two in Dhaka by S Alam Group (another 1,200MW capacity).
The Orion projects, awarded against a very low power tariff, are awaiting the government’s environmental clearance from the middle of this year.
The country’s biggest electricity project, Rampal 1,320MW coal power scheme, is also running more than a year behind schedule.
“We are determined to keep on track the ambitious plans to ramp up power production but how can we achieve the milestone without timely implementation of the proposed power plants,” he said.
