THE interim government appears to be missing out on the chance to walk away from the power and energy policy that the previous Awami League government had continued since 2009 to offer predatory profits to independent and rental power producers. An absence of effective initiatives on part of the interim government, which has been in office for about six months, to rein in profiteers that the Awami League government had placed in the power and energy sector has already come to be criticised. Whilst the power plants set up then by profiteers 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. But the interim government has maintained that the cancellation of the agreements is difficult. The signing of a non-binding agreement by the Investment Development Authority on January 24 with the Louisiana-based Argent LNG on the import of five million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year only comes as the expression of the interim government鈥檚 continuing with the Awami League-like power and energy policy.
Whilst experts say that the Argent agreement, replete with irregularities and flaws, could very well increase energy risks and unreliability, speakers at a seminar in Dhaka on February 5 said that the deal on liquefied natural gas import is nothing short of a reflection of how the Awami League government managed the sector that could perpetuate the reign of the syndicate of looters and the corrupt. The speakers have said that in the changed political context, the Argent agreement is a precursor to the continuation of what the Awami League did by allowing more than a hundred power projects under an energy indemnity law, sidestepping competitive processes. No tangible legal action against the Awami League-era power projects has so far been taken after the energy indemnity law was repealed in November 2024. The interim government could have had an exit from the flawed energy policy, but it took up a gas import project the way the Awami League did, which experts say is a surprise. The economic, environmental and public health consequences of the Awami League鈥檚 harmful power and energy projects appear to be getting a lease of life during the interim government.
The interim government should, therefore, review the agreement already signed and stop making such agreements in future.