bd EnergY LinK

Govt eyes $7b investment in power sector

No commitment from foreign firms yet

Bangladesh has sought 7 billion US dollars investment in energy and power sector at the road-shows held recently in New York and Singapore where a large number of promising investors evinced keen interest, reports UNB.
The road-shows organized by the government where an official delegation led by Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, adviser to Prime Minister, was present
On return home Dr Elahi told a press briefing on Thursday that promising investors have shown keen interest for investment in Bangladesh, particularly because of their growing confidence in the administration.
He is hopeful of huge foreign investment in power and energy sector in the coming years. But there was no specific commitment as yet, he told a correspondent.
Road-shows were held in New York and Singapore last week in a bid to attract foreign investment in power and energy sector. The delegation attended the road-shows to showcase the investment potentials in the country.
State Minister for Power and Energy Brigadier Gen (retd) Enamul Haque, Power Secretary Abul Kalam Azad, Board of Investment Chairman Dr. SA Samad, PDB Chairman ASM Alamgir Kabir, Petrobangla Chairman Dr. Hossain Mansur and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation chief Anwarul Karim were among those in the delegation.
Dr Elahi placed a 7 billion dollars investment requirement for the power and energy sector. A number of power plants with a total generation capacity of 5,000 MW and setting up an LNG terminal in the Bay were proposed in the road shows.
He said about 110 representatives of 70 US companies attended the New York road-show while 126 officials from 88 international companies were present in the Singapore road-show.
“We had one-to-one meeting with top executives of different companies to clarify our position on various issues,” Azad said. “Actually, we have presented our potential fields of investment. Investors asked questions on different issues and we answered to those. The huge attendance proves that the interest about investment in Bangladesh is rising among international investors. We”ve been able to restore their confidence in Bangladesh administration,” claimed Dr. Elahi.
Replying to a question about nagging gas crisis, Petrobangla chairman said the people are convinced that the crisis cannot be solved overnight.
“It’’s not possible to increase gas production immediately. The entrepreneurs should look for alternative source of energy like liquid fuel when they think about setting up industries,” Dr. Mansur told reporters. He advised the manufacturers to use LNG bottle-gas to meet their requirement.
He noted that the Petrobangla has taken up an ambitious programme to conduct 2D and 3D seismic survey in all prospective onshore gas fields. Move for raising gas production will made after receiving the survey report, he added.