Friday, April 16, 2010

Electricity Problem In Bangladesh

Electricity crisis has been a problem for the people of Bangladesh. The government policy on this issue is not right. I have some suggestions with a view to solving this problem. Everyone is invited to give more suggestions.

The people of Bangladesh have been suffering from lack of electricity for the last few years. Power distribution lines have been expanded to cover more consumers but production of electricity did not increase. The main reason behind this is corruption. The present government is doing the job of eliminating corruption. This will do good to the nation. But this will not solve the electricity crisis.
 There are some problems with the policy that was followed in the power sector. This sector was always under government control. Recently large scale investment from private sector was encouraged. But it did not solve the problem for various reasons. In the context of Bangladesh, this problem can easily be solved by micro enterprise or micro investment. For the success of that strategy, all types of taxes on the import and sale of generators below the capacity of 10 mega watts must be fixed at zero per cent. Banks should allow loans without mortgage for purchasing generators below 10 mw. This will create employment for the youth. They will be able to invest in small area-wise power production and distribution business. Low-priced electricity will strongly assist the boost up of cottage industry in the rural areas. Owners of these micro power plants will need employees for maintenance. In a small area, each household will be their customer and they will negotiate the price. The city corporation or the municipality will ensure the standard of service by regular inspection. This way the sufferings of the people from power shortage will decrease significantly. These investors should be exempted from income tax and vat for the first five years. This will certainly solve the power crisis. This will also provoke some self-seekers, whose interest is going to be hurt. The government should prevent them from doing anything harmful. The government should also encourage manufacturing of small capacity generators locally.

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