The country’s power and energy sector received an allocation of Tk 30,317 crore in the FY2024-25, which was Tk 34,819 crore in the previous FY2023-24.
Placing the proposed allocation in the national budget FY2024-25, Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali said that one of the main inputs of production is electricity.
“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.
He said that 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.
There are plans to increase the power transmission lines to 24000 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 noted that 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). Currently, 27 power plants with a capacity of 9,144 MW are under construction.
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.
The Finance Minister said that 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.
Special Allocation for RE and Pre-paid Meter
Considering the importance of renewable energy in building a developed, prosperous, smart and sustainable Bangladesh by 2041, the Finance Minister proposed a special allocation of Tk 100 crore to encourage its development and use.
Besides electricity generation and transmission, a smart pre-paid/smart meter installation programme has been taken up to increase transparency and accountability in this sector.
Energy and Mineral Resources
The Finance Minister said the 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.
Natural gas accounts for 54 to 59 percent of the country’s total commercial fuel. Currently, the number of discovered gas fields is 29, of which 20 are in production. BAPEX plans to drill and workover 48 wells under Petrobangla between January 2023 and December 2025 to explore and extract oil/gas in onshore areas to meet the increasing gas demand of the country.
Offshore Gas Exploration
Without impairing the interests of Bangladesh and making the existing ‘Offshore Model- PSC 2019’ more attractive in the light of production-sharing agreements of various neighbouring countries Bangladesh Offshore Model Production Sharing Contract (PSC)- 2023 has been formulated.
Under this contract, ‘Bangladesh Offshore Bidding Round-2024’ has been started to recruit international companies for oil and gas exploration and extraction in 09 blocks of shallow sea and 15 blocks of deep sea. It is expected that PSCs for deep and shallow seas will be signed by December this year.
Besides, the Blue Economy Cell is working under the Energy and Mineral Resources Division to coordinate the activities of the relevant Ministries/Departments concerned with the blue economy for optimal utilization of marine minerals and other resources.
Considering the importance of extracting marine resources and its fair use, an allocation of Tk. 100 crore has been proposed for research and development activities in this sector
