SANGSAD BHABAN, June 6, 2024 (BSS) - Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali today proposed allocating Taka 30,317 crore for the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources in the budget for FY 2024-25.
 
"Considering the importance of the power and energy sector, I propose an allocation of Taka 30,317 crore in FY 2024-25. The allocation for this sector was Taka 34,819 crore in FY 2023-24," he said in his budget speech.
 
Of the total Taka 30,317 crore, Taka 29,230 crore has been allocated for Power Division while Taka 1,087 crore for Energy and Mineral Resources Division in FY 2024-25.
 
In building a Smart Bangladesh by 2041, Mahmood Ali said, emphasis has been laid on smart power generation, transmission and distribution system, including the introduction of a smart grid system.
 
"Our government is attaching highest importance and top priority to the development of the power sector and is implementing various projects to improve the generation, transmission and distribution systems," he said.
 
Already, in fulfillment of its pledge, the government has brought 100 percent of the population under the electricity coverage and plans have been taken to increase the power generation capacity to 40,000 MW by 2030 and 60,000 MW by 2041, said Mahmood Ali.
 
He said there are plans to increase the power transmission lines to 24 thousand circuit kilometers by modernizing the grid.
 
Besides, the government has formulated Integrated Energy and Power Master Plan (IEPMP) as part of the integrated master plan for the power and energy sector, he said.
 
In 2009, the power generation capacity was only 4,942 MW, which has now increased to 30,277 MW (including the captive and renewable energy), Mahmood Ali said adding currently, 27 power plants with a capacity of 9,144 MW are under construction.
 
Per capita power generation increased from 220 KWh to 602 KWh, he said.
 
Following the construction of 7,246 circuit-km of transmission lines in the last 15 years, the total number of transmission lines has increased to 15,246 circuit-km, he said.
 
The total length of distribution lines stands at 6.43 lakh km, he said, adding electricity distribution system loss has been decreased from 14.33 percent in 2009 to 7.65 percent in 2023.
 
The minister said as part of the long-term master plan for power generation, a plan has been adopted to import about 9,000 MW of electricity from neighbouring countries by 2041 under regional and sub-regional cooperation programmes and a target of 40 percent of the total power generation from renewable energy has been set as 1,160 MW of electricity through grid interconnection and 1,600 MW from coal-based power plants are being supplied from India to the national grid of Bangladesh.
 
He said the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant construction project at Ishwardi in Pabna is under implementation.
 
After its implementation, a total of 2,400 MW of electricity in two units will be connected to the national grid, which will accelerate economic development of the country, he said.
 
"Considering the importance of renewable energy in building a developed, prosperous, smart and sustainable Bangladesh by 2041, I am proposing a special allocation of Taka 100 crore to encourage its development and use," said Mahmood Ali.
 
Besides, electricity generation and transmission, smart prepaid or smart meter installation programmes have been taken up to increase transparency and accountability in this sector while around 63 lakh pre-paid or smart meters have been installed so far, he said.
 
Bill payment, grievance redressal and new connection processes have been brought under automation to improve the quality of customer service, he added.
 
"Our government is working relentlessly to ensure safe and adequate energy supply in the country. In January 2009, our gas production was 1,744 million cubic feet per day, which has now increased to about 2,100 million cubic feet. Besides, about 1,000-1,050 million cubic feet of imported LNG is being added to the national grid daily," he said.
 
About 14 million tons of coal has been extracted from Barapukuria coal mine till January 2024, he said.
 
To strengthen the energy security of the country, activities have been undertaken to increase the storage capacity of fuel oil to 60 days instead of 45 days, said the minister. 
 
Mahmood Ali said in FY 2008-09, the storage capacity of fuel oil in the country was 8.94 lakh metric tons while in FY 2022-23 it increased to about 14 lakh.
 
To increase the refining capacity of Eastern Refinery Limited (ERL) from 15 lakh metric tons to 45 lakh metric tons to meet the fuel oil demand of the country ERL Unit-II project has been taken up, he said.