Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Monday said the country’s rental power plants need to be kept in operation until the power supply situation gets stabilised. “There’s a lot of criticism against rental power plants, but if we want a normal power supply, rental plats have to be allowed running,” he said while addressing at a seminar on power sector at Bidyt Bhaban in the city. The finance minister’s defensive stance on rental power plants came against the backdrop of the government’s recent decision extending some rental plants’ agreements for another five years which power sector experts and economists harshly criticized. The Power Division organised the seminar, titled: ‘Power System Master Plan: Strategy Towards 24000 MW Power Generation’, with Power Secretary Monwar Islam in the chair. The seminar was addressed, among others, by Prime Minister’s Adviser Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, State Minister for Power and Energy Mohammad Enamul Haque and ERD Secretary Abul Kalam Azad. The Finance Minister, however, said the country will get rid load-shedding hazard by March next. After achieving the benchmark target of 10,000-MW power generation, now the government targets to generate 24,000 MW by 2021, he said. Muhith said the country’s future power plants will be imported coal-fired ones although no decision has so far been made on the use of local coal. “It needs more research and study to extract local coal.” The Finance Minister said the country’s different sectors had to suffer a lot in giving priority in gas supply to the power sector. But the gas crisis will go within the next two years with the installation of the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). “We hope, an LNG terminal will be set up within the next two years,” he said. Tawfiq Elahi said the Awami League government had set a target in its election manifesto to generate 9,000 MW by 2015. “But we generated 11,000 MW and this achievement has been possible due to the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. “So, if people want to keep up the momentum, they’ll have to vote for Awami League to see Sheikh Hasina as Prime Minister again,” he said. – UNB
