Govt decides to remove restrictions on power for industries

The power division on Thursday decided to remove a virtual restriction on providing new power connections to about 10,500 industries the applications of which have remained piled up since 2009.
The new connection seekers would need some 1,100MW of power for their newly established or expanded factories, particularly in areas under the Rural Electrification Board, officials said.
The decision came at a meeting, with the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid in the chair, where power division secretary Monwar Islam and other power sector officials were present, officials said.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who also holds the portfolio of the power and energy ministry, on April 8 instructed the authorities concerned to take immediate steps in providing new power connections to the industries in a bid to tackle the economic slowdown the country is facing, they said.
The government, in the wake of shortage in power supply against the demand, slapped bans on new power connections at different times since 2009.
In 2011, the government announced that the five state-run power distribution utilities would provide new connection on condition that the connection seekers would have to install solar panels.
‘The policy ultimately slowed down the process of providing new power connections, increasing the number of pending applications,’ a power division official said.
The government had also put a brake on providing new gas connections to the industries, which, along with the restriction on new power connections, adversely impacted industrialisation of the country by slowing down the growth of import of capital machinery.
In the Thursday’s meeting, Nasrul asked the distribution utilities to start providing new power connections to the industries after scrutinising their applications within the shortest possible time, a power division official said.
He said the upcoming power plants would increase power supply by 1,000MW of electricity by 2015.
Earlier, in the meeting, the power sector officials apprised the junior minister of the inconsistency in ensuring primary fuels for the power plants and in power transmission and distribution capacity.
There are also over 10 lakh pending applications for domestic consumption with the five state-run power distribution utilities which would require 1,300MW-1,500MW of power to meet their demand.
Some 10,300 applications are pending with REB with a new demand for 1,064MW of power, 31 with Dhaka Power Distribution Company with a new demand for 12MW of power, 56 with Dhaka Electric Supply Company with 14MW of power and 27 with West Zone Power Distribution Company with 25MW of power, according to a report prepared for the meeting based on data available until February 2015.