Power Development of Bangladesh
Problem and Prospect Power is considered to be the driving force of the economy. Bangladesh’s annual economic growth of 7% calls for the scalability of its power infrastructure to keep up with the demands of industry and increased urbanization. The overall development of the economy grossly depends on the amount of power the country belongs to. As a developing economy, Bangladesh is progressing in producing a substantial amount of power 69% of the total population of Bangladesh under the privilege of electricity and per capita production of electricity is 421 kilo-watt, according to the “Bangladesh review 2016 “. But the country needs to maintain the increasing power demand.
Power works like the oil of a machine. We know a machine cannot run without fuel. Likewise, an economy cannot headway without an adequate supply of power. Due to inadequate power and electricity supply, industrialist, investors and the owner of small industries cannot set up a new business. Investors native and abroad are reluctant to invest in the development sector fearing their profits could not retrieve. Thus the country lags behind the development path soaring up the prevailing unemployment rate. Therefore the total economy languishes in morbidity. Society’s turning back on the development path is not possible. The standard of living of modern people is broadly dependent on power accessibility. Modern amenities of citizens can be attained without having proper power. So to bring people in light of medieval society, power is a must. But it is a matter of great sorrow that only 69% of the total people in our country are getting electricity facilities. Children of the distant area are not able to see the invention of Tomas Alva Edison. They still read their book with the help of traditional lights which is also environmentally unfriendly as well as harmful for health.
According to the information of the Ministry of Power, the country is only able 10341 mega-watt electricity whereas the demand is much more than the current production. But there is a glimmer of hope as the current government has taken several initiatives to resolve the ongoing power crisis. Many mega power plants including the 2400 megawatt Rooprur nuclear power project, 1320 megawatt Rampal coal-based power project, Matarbari electric power plant project, etc. recently Bangladesh government has signed an agreement with the Russian developer Rosatom to build up the nuclear power plant costing near about $10 Billion. Despite such a high cost, electricity generated at the Rooppur plant be cheaper than that of coal-fired plants and little costlier than that of gas power plants. This low cost is due to the long plant life. The first power plant would be installed by 2021-22. Another large mega power project is the Rampal coal-fired power plant which enables the production of 1341 megawatt power. It will help our national grid to supply people with electricity, but there is controversy in building the Rampal power plant near the Sundarban as it seems like a threat to a living being in the larger mangrove forest. Another large power project is the Matabari power plant. It will also add the additional power to our national grid bringing more and more people under the coverage of electricity. Currently, there are 145 lacks subscribers of electricity in the country.
We hope in the near future the number will go up rapidly by the initiative taken by the government. The government and concerned ministry should not limit their task only in inaugurating new power plants. The ministry of power should supervise the dilapidated plants to grow more powerful. If the government instead of setting up new power plants, nurtured the existing plants, the production of power will rise which will cost less. This less cost helps people to get themselves easy to access to power. Load shedding is a common phenomenon. It adds more trouble during the hot summer. So the government should consider the matter seriously and provide the people with sufficient power.
