Bangladesh govt sets 2010 to resolve power crisis

Dhaka, June 7 (UNI) As Bangladesh reeling under a severe electricity crisis, the army-backed caretaker government has increased allocation for the power sector in the new budget and set the year 2010 to resolve the problem with sufficient power generation.

Announcing the national budget of TK 87,137 crore for fiscal 2007-08, Finance Advisor Mirza Azizul Islam said, ''We've set a target to generate sufficient electricity by 2010 to reach a level where there will no load-shedding.'' He said although the demand for electricity increased manifold in the past few years, generation did not increase accordingly.

To meet the increasing demand for electricity, the government has taken up short, medium and long-term plans, the Finance Advisor said adding, ''The power and energy sectors will get 16 per cent of the total allocation in the new budget.'' ''We've planned to increase power generation over the next three years by 345 MW in the first year, 900 MW in the second year and 1050 MW in the third year.'' The caretaker government has taken initiatives to complete the maintenance of those power generation plants, which will add 600 MW electricity to the national grid by the year-end.

UNI