DHAKA, Oct 4, 2018 (BSS) – Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith today hoped that the country’s power generation capacity would reach 30,000 MW by the year 2024 and this would have a positive impact on the economy.
“Now the power generation capacity is substantially more than the demand of the country… we should have a power generation capacity of 30,000 MW by 2024 and I don’t think that the energy requirement of the country would be anywhere near 30,000 MW by that time. So, it’s a matter of great satisfaction for us and also for the economy,” he said.
The minister was inaugurating the three-day ‘Green PPP Convention and Expo-2018’ as the chief guest at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) from October 4 to 6 and in Chattogram from October 5 to 7 organised by Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund Limited (BIFFL).
The exposition, second of its kind, is aimed at promoting green and energy efficient technology and Public Private Partnership (PPP) for sustainable infrastructure development in the country.
Muhith said the Awami League government after assuming office undertook a crash programme for the first three years to address the acute power crisis adding, “I believe that crash programme was behind the growth performance over the last 10 years.”
Noting that the onward march of the economy will continue, he, however, said that they are somewhat unhappy over the growth of inequality. “I think this is an area which deserves particular attention so that inequality is carefully checked. Because, we have nearly 10 million very poor people in the country although we have reduced poverty over the years,” he said.
“But, I think inequality has not been reduced to a great extent and this is to me a matter of concern for the coming years,” he added.
Considering the global context, the Finance Minister said infrastructure deficit is very important because this may hold up the growth process in the Asian region.
He noted that deficit in infrastructure is a matter of concern for the whole world.
Besides, the Finance Minister said the impact of climate change is a matter of serious concern for the whole world and unfortunately for Bangladesh, it’s much more of a concern, because Bangladesh is not one of those who are generating difficulties for the climate change.
“But, we are a big sufferer of climate change and are being affected by other nations. So, we have to care for green development in a very special manner…I think in green development, we are the leader in the world as we began attending to this problem well before the new fund or new sort of institutions that came into existence,” he said.
Muhith, however, said only good performance in this sector is not sufficient “because, we also need the cooperation of the global activists in the green sector.” In order to save lives on earth, he said, one needs to be extremely conscious of green development.
In terms of operationalizing the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives, he said, Bangladesh can be proud of the record in the PPP sector, as the emphasis that the government has put on this particular sector has been quite fruitful.
Turning again to the issue of infrastructure, the Finance Minister said except the power sector, infrastructure is still an area of deficit in the country and much more work is needed in order to materialize the objectives of being a prosperous, peaceful and developed country by 2041 as envisioned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Secretary in Charge of the Finance Division Abdur Rouf Talukder, BIFFL executive director and CEO SM Formanul Islam, Finance Division additional secretary Md Ekhlasur Rahman, among others, were present at the inaugural session of the convention.
This year around 100 organisations from Germany, Japan, China and host Bangladesh will display technologies and products including green brick, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building/industry materials, waste treatment technology, etc.
BIFFL, a leading financier of infrastructure projects in the country, is organising the event as part of its nationwide awareness campaign for sustainable development in the country.