State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid said that everyone is suffering due to the ongoing load shedding and hopefully the power situation will be normal within the next two weeks.
He wrote on his verified Facebook page on Monday (June 5), "The people of the country are suffering due to the ongoing heat wave and load shedding, which is not desirable, but we are working on priority to bring relief to public life very soon... Hopefully, the situation will be completely normal in a few weeks." .
Nasrul Hamid said, there are several reasons behind load shedding, which everyone should know. As you are all aware, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent Russia-Ukraine war have caused severe volatility in the international energy markets.
He said that the price of all types of fuel including gas, coal and furnace oil has skyrocketed in the international market, and even its availability in the market has become uncertain. The state minister said, on the other hand, the exchange rate of the dollar has increased unbridled. This has impacted the import of fuels like gas, coal and furnace oil for power generation, resulting in ongoing load shedding.
He said that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the government has brought electricity to every house in the country with its sincere efforts. Referring to the previous situation of electricity in the country, Nasrul Hamid said that in 2008 only 44 percent people got electricity, which is now 100 percent. He recalled that then the countrymen suffered at least 16-18 hours of load shedding in a day.
The state minister said, keeping in mind the demand for electricity, we have increased the production of electricity more than 5 times in the last period. At present our power generation capacity is about 27 thousand 361 MW (including captive). Pointing out that there is no dearth in the power sector in terms of generation capacity, he said, however, we are facing unexpected load shedding due to the global energy crisis and massive upward trend in the international currency market.
Nasrul Hamid said, I am sorry for your suffering. I want to assure you that the current situation is temporary. We can get back to a good position in no time.
He further said that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has made extensive development in the power sector by adopting various short, medium and long term plans. I hope your (countrymen) trust and support will continue. Together we will be able to alleviate this suffering as soon as possible.