The government will count more than Tk 63 billion in losses for purchasing electricity through rental and quick rental projects during the 2012-13 fiscal year, Parliament heard on Thursday.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Mohammad Enamul Huq made the disclosure while replying to a written question from ABM Ashraf Uddin during the question-answer session.
Huq said due to the cheaper rates of electricity generated in the public sector, subsidies for the power sector would be at Tk 54 billion.
The junior minister said that as many as nine power plants, each having a capacity of 860 megawatts, have so far been commissioned after maintenance and overhauling while those in seven more plants, each having 615-MW capacity, were underway.
He also said that construction of a total of 27 power plants with an accumulated capacity of 5,437 MW were on-going.
In response to another query from Rahmat Ali MP, Huq said the government had no immediate plans to raise power tariffs.
Replying to a starred question of Jhalkathi-1 constituency MP Bazlul Huq Haroon, he said Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation had plans to import 5.2 million metric tons of fuel oil to meet demand in the current calendar year.
The demand for power during the next irrigation and summer season is likely to stand at 7,500 MW while the production might be around 6,600 MW, he said, responding to Shammi Akhter.
He said that during this winter session, the total demand of electricity was 5,000 MW while the production was 4,800 MW.
Replying to a query of ABM Ashraf Uddin Nizam, Huq said there was high price spiral of fuel oil in the global market for over two years.
He said that after the petroleum prices reached the highest level in the international market amid global economic slowdown in 2011, the government increased fuel oil prices in the local market in four phases.bdnews24.com
