Experts at a roundtable yesterday said the government should scrap plans to export coal and gas to meet the local demands.
They said the country's energy resources should be used specially for generation of electricity.
The roundtable titled 'Electricity crisis, energy resources and people's interest' was organised by the weekly Shaptahik at the National Press Club in the city.
The speakers urged the government to abandon plan for open pit mining in Phulbari coalmine and cancel all controversial contracts with foreign companies.
They said open pit mining would cause enormous environmental degradation and massive displacement of local people.
They also demanded removal of officials of the energy ministry who were accused of corruption.
Prof Anu Mohammad, member-secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port, said donor-prescribed reforms in energy sector need reconsideration.
Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, president of Bangladesh Economic Association, said local experts should be involved in policymaking process.
The government should meet the promises it made in its election manifesto, he added.
The speakers said the country at present produces about 3500mw electricity against its total demand of 6000mw.
This demand is also increasing by eight to 10 percent every year, they added.
They said about 88 percent electricity is produced using natural gas while the use of coal is only 3.7 percent.
The experts said five coalmines discovered in the north of the country have an estimated reserve of about 3,300 million tonnes of coal while the country has a possible reserve of seven trillion cubic feet gas.
With current consumption rate the gas reserve will last about 25 years, added the experts.
Maj Gen (retd) Subed Ali Bhuiyan, chairman of parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, said the government has plans to eliminate corruption from the energy sector.
He said the committee has made several suggestions to the government including reducing system loss up to 10 percent in the power sector, which is currently about 14 percent.
There are also suggestions to promote prepaid meters to reduce electricity consumption, endorse solar power, private sector involvement in electricity distribution and disconnect illegal gas and electricity lines in July, he informed.
Prof Serajul Islam Chowdhury, Golam Murtaza, editor of the weekly Shaptahik, Amanul Islam Choudhury, former adviser to the caretaker government, Maj Gen (retd) Anwarul Kabir Talukder, former state minister for power, Prof M Shamsul Alam, Prof Nurul Islam, BD Rahmatullah, former director of Power Cell, and Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, former MP, also spoke on the occasion. |
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