Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will sit with Power Division officials today to know about the work progress of a series of under-construction power projects, implementation of which are at stake in the tenure of the present government due to fund constraints.

“PM will sit with us to discuss the power sector scenario and its financing,” Power Division Secretary M Abul Kalam Azad told daily sun yesterday.

The Power Division is worried over the implementation of 24 public and private sector power projects, with a stipulated production capacity of around 3,197 megawatt of power, by 2014 due to fund shortage.

A total of 13 out of 15 power projects being constructed under the private sector are yet to arrange funds to implement the projects. Besides, a public sector project has also failed to manage financing, Power Division officials said.

Through a letter recently, Power Division Secretary has informed the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about the private sector sponsors’ failure to open letter of credits (LC) to import equipments for their projects due to liquidity crisis of the commercial banks.

Following the letter, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to hold a meeting with the Power Division senior officials to discuss the issue, sources said. The government earlier had decided to implement the private sector power projects with 70 percent funding from foreign sources.

“We need support from the Finance Division, Banking Division and Bangladesh Bank to implement the power projects with 70 percent foreign funding,” Azad said in the letter.

In the letter, he also sought help from the central bank and other commercial banks to open LCs for the import of power project equipments.

“If the concerned authorities fail to address the issues, implementation of the power projects under the private sector in the next two years would become uncertain,” the letter said.

Prime Minister’s Power and Energy Adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury told daily sun that the government is still stick to its plan to produce more electricity through private sector investment.

He also said the government would assist the private sponsors in mobilising foreign funds to implement their projects.

The World Bank has already refused to finance two mega power projects at Bibyana, awarded to Summit Group, a concern of Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Faruk Khan’s family.

Meanwhile, two other power projects awarded to Aslamul Huq, a ruling party lawmaker from Dhaka-14 (Mirpur), are yet to mobilise fund, concerned officials of Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) said. The lawmaker has no previous experience in power sector.

Besides, three mega coal-based power projects owned by Orion Group have also failed to manage funds.

According to Power Division, the government has so far added 3,330MW of electricity to the national grid in last three years from 47 power projects.

The present daily demand for electricity is recorded at 6,500MW against the supply of 5,000-5500MW.

“I think it’s a failure of BPDB to sign contracts with private sponsors without ensuring foreign funding to implement the projects,” said Professor M Tamim, former special assistant on power, energy and mineral resources to the chief adviser of a caretaker government.

He said none of the local commercial banks would be able to assist funding for the projects.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 12th June 2012