DHAKA: Dr. Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury, Energy Adviser to the Prime Minister, said the government has taken a mega-plan to generate around 10,000MW power by the year 2015.

“The government is also going to formulate another grand mega-plan to generate 20,000MW power by 2021,” he said while addressing a roundtable on Wednesday.

News magazine Energy & Power organized the roundtable entitled ‘Energy Sector Mega Plan and Its Implementation Challenge’ at CIRDAP auditorium.  

The roundtable, organized on the occasion of the 8th publication anniversary of the magazine, was moderated by its Editor Mollah Amzad Hossain.

The Energy Adviser said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would assist the developing countries in producing 3000MW solar power.

A team from the ADB will visit Bangladesh in September to see the possibility of implementing the solar electricity in the country, he added.

As Bangladesh is now an energy-hungry country, the Adviser said the government will discuss with Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar to import electricity soon, Tawfiq said.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Enamul Huq said the gas in the long run will not be able to meet the growing.

“So, we should now go coal-based electricity generation as soon as possible. There is no way but coal,” Huq added.

Ziauddin Ahmed, former Energy Minister, said, “There was no plan in the last seven years that pushed us back.”

Dr Ijaz Hossain, a professor of BUET, presented the keynote paper and said 75-lakh tonnes coal would be required to generate 2600MW electricity from four coal-based power plants.

Imported coal for power production would cost US $ 150 per ton while the coal from the country’s coal mine would cost US$  75 per ton, he said.  

Frmer State Minister for Energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Enamul Haque, MP, Abdul Wadud, MP, Muqtadir Ali, former Chairman of Petrobangla, Director of Summit Power Company Ltd Faisal Khan, Chairman of Bangladesh Power Development Board ASM Alamgir Kabir, Vice Chancellor of Ahsanullah University Prof. Anowar Hossain also spoke.

BDST: 1930 HRS, JULY 14, 2010.