Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Tuesday said a timeframe has to be set to eliminate conventional brick fields from the countiy. Supporting an idea of introducing hollow-block in build¬ing construction for the sake of environment and saving the top soil, he said, “We must set a timeframe to bring an end to the production of conventional bricks. We must bring them under control.” The Finance Minister said this while addressing a seminar on energy efficiency organised by Power Division at Mukti Hall of Biduyt Bhaban in the city. Chaired by Power Division additional secretary Tapos Kumar Roy, the seminar was addressed, among others, by State Minis¬ter for Power and Energy Nasrul Hamid Bipu and Bangladesh Energy Regulatoiy Commission Chairman AR Khan. Power Division joint secretaiy Siddique Zobair made a presentation at the seminar, titled ‘Energy Saving in Bangladesh: problems and possibility’. The Finance Minister said the government has undertak¬en a programme to replace the conventional brick fields with automatic ones which is experiencing difficulties. “Efforts must continue in this regard. Still, there’s enough time for replacing the bricks with hallow blocks. Mass awareness needs to be created,” he said. Reiterating his continuous support to the Power Division to improve power generation and supply situation, the Fi¬nance Minister said he would consider some of the proposals related to power transmission and distribution. Muhith said the countiy’s generation capacity is more than :o,ooo MW, but supply is about 7,000 MW because of weakness in transmission and distribution system. He said there is a veiy few gap between demand and peak- time electricity supply. “We should examine the peaking power plant,” he said. Addressing the seminar.
