70% households to get LPG in 3 years

Around 70% households in the country will be supplied with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the next three years, said Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources. Speaking at a seminar in the city on Thursday, the state minister also said the national demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is 3,500mmcfd – million cubic feet per day. Coal is expected to be used to generate 50% of electricity in Bangladesh by 2030, he added. The seminar, titled “Mega Project Debate,” was held at CIRDAP auditorium. Addressing the ceremony, Hamid alleged that the campaign against Rampal coal-fired power plant was aimed at creating obstacle before the government's goal to ensure energy security in the country. “The campaign has a political motive designed by the BNP and its crucial ally Jamaat-e-Islami,” he said. Energy expert Engineer Khandkar Abdus Saleque Sufi, who presented the keynote paper at the seminar, said he was satisfied as an expert with the government measures taken to protect the Sundarbans during the construction of Ramal plant, particularly regarding emission control and use of better quality coal. “A 275-metre chimney will be set up to knock down the last traces of particulate matters, [while] superior quality of coal will be procured from Australia or Indonesia," he said, listing the major precautions to be taken to minimise the environmental risks of the project. Other experts who took part in the seminar also said there was no scientific or technical basis of the campaign being carried out against the plant. Meanwhile, Hamid said besides coal, the government was also putting its efforts to tap into the regional sources of conventional and renewable hydropower. “We plan to invest $1billion in hydropower,” he added. He further said investors from India, China, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japanese aid agency Jica and German state-owned development bank KfW had expressed interest to invest in the energy and power sector of Bangladesh. “Some $40 billion will be required to implement mega projects in the power sector by 2021,” he added.