Govt making every effort to resolve energy crisis: Minister

Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku has said the government is making every possible effort to resolve the ongoing energy and electricity crisis, while candidly admitting that there is little to do but manage load-shedding and wait until repairs to a fire-damaged floating LNG terminal are complete.

Speaking at a CPD-organised dialogue titled "Addressing Bangladesh's Energy Crisis: Immediate Priorities and a Path to a Sustainable Energy Future" on Thursday (13 August), the minister attributed the current crisis directly to the fire at the floating LNG terminal (FSRU), saying that until repairs are finished, authorities can neither extract additional gas nor discharge existing reserves into the national grid. "I have nothing else to do in this crisis right now," he said, explaining that his role for now was largely confined to managing load-shedding to minimise disruption to industry while foreign engineers -- from the UK and Singapore --complete repairs, after which two new boilers will need to be brought online simultaneously, requiring a full 72-hour system shutdown that will temporarily deepen the gas shortage.

The minister said a new FSRU had already been ordered, with three more planned for Payra, Mongla and Hiron Point by 2029, while stopgap measures were being pursued to ease pressure on industry -- including approval for 30 trucks to ferry gas by container from Bhola to factories, and ongoing talks with a Malaysian firm on direct container-based gas supply. He also blamed circulating rumours about oil supply for exacerbating the crisis, clarifying that no single entity was being granted a monopoly on oil imports; instead, a new policy was being drafted to allow private companies to import oil under specified conditions. Separately, import duty on solar batteries and inverters has been cut to just 5 percent, alongside a five-year tax holiday for the sector, to encourage solar power adoption.

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The dialogue, chaired by CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun, featured a keynote presentation by senior CPD research fellow Fakhruddin Al Kabir, with further remarks from Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) President Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury Parvez, Apex Footwear Managing Director Syed Nasim Manzur, Dhaka University Associate Professor Moshahida Sultana, and North South University Economics Professor Sakib Bin Amin, among others.