AN ABSENCE of effective initiatives on part of the interim government, which assumed office more than five months ago, to rein in profiteers that the previous Awami League government had placed in the power and energy sector during its 15 years of authoritarian regime has rightly come to be criticised. Whilst the power plants set up by profiteers who had been close to the Awami League government continue to bleed the economy, at a time when the government is trying to bring about economic and other reforms, experts say that there are laws and ways to stop the profiteers from being unjustly benefited, the government has repeated that the cancellation of power and energy deals signed international laws is difficult, especially financially, as it involves the payment of billions of dollars. While the inaction on part of the government, rather, validates the existence of such predatory profit-making plants, it also stops the government from making a case for the cancellation of the deals, the closure of the plants and holding the quarters responsible to justice. Besides, allowing the profiteers to run the power plants is even more harmful on two counts 鈥� the continued payment of capacity charges and the unabated harm to the environment and public health.
The Awami League government allowed more than a hundred power projects after its assumption of office in 2009 under the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply Act 2010 鈥� initially meant to provide for early relief from the shortage of power and then consecutively extended 鈥� which scaled up the installed power generation capacity to 28GW, excluding 2.8GW of captive power in 2024 from about 5GW in 2009, whilst the demand is roughly 17GW and the generation is hardly 13GW. The government paid more than Tk 1,000 billion to idle power plants in capacity charges in the decade and a half of consecutive tenures of the Awami League. The law that had safeguarded actors and their action in the sector by keeping them above the customary law, however, stands repealed with promulgation of the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) (Repeal) Ordinance 2024 that was done on November 28, 2024. If the government would wish to exit a power deal, it would, in most cases, need to pay 85 per cent of the income that the plant could made during its lifetime, which is typically 15 to 25 years and many plants have been in operation for 15 years and they earned a handsome return on their investment in the first three to four years. Experts also believe there are other ways to get the profiteers to the negotiation table to reduce excessive tariffs afforded through unequal power deals.
Now that the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) (Repeal) Ordinance 2024 has been in force since November 28, 2024, it is imperative for the government to act against the AL regime actors behind the power deals. And, it is more pressing for the government to exit the unequal power deals done during the AL regime to save the economy, the environment and public health.
