Former state minister for power, energy and mineral resources Nasrul Hamid has said Bangladesh could once again receive uninterrupted electricity and gas supplies if Sheikh Hasina returned to lead the country.
Hamid said the power sector underwent major changes during the period of the Awami League government, with a substantial expansion in generation capacity and the extension of electricity services to areas that previously had limited or no access. He claimed that people were now being deprived of the benefits associated with those developments.
Recalling the Awami League’s 2008 election manifesto, known as the ‘Charter for Change’, Hamid said the party had pledged to bring the entire population under electricity coverage by 2021. He said that when the Awami League assumed office in 2009, more than half of the country’s population remained outside the electricity network and some areas experienced between 18 and 20 hours of load-shedding a day.
According to Hamid, Bangladesh’s electricity-generation capacity stood at around 3,000 megawatts at the time. He said it subsequently increased to more than 33,000MW. Several major power projects were also implemented during that period, including the 1,320MW Payra Thermal Power Plant, as well as large projects at Rampal and Matarbari.
Hamid said the government had also completed the expansion of electricity services to remote parts of the country. The work, he said, extended from difficult-to-reach hill areas to isolated riverine chars, with the target of ensuring nationwide electricity access completed by December 2021.
Bangladesh was subsequently declared a fully electrified country on 21 March 2022, the day the Payra Thermal Power Plant was inaugurated. The declaration represented a major milestone in the government’s campaign to expand electricity access across the country.
Hamid, who served as state minister while Sheikh Hasina was in charge of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, said he was grateful to have been involved in and witnessed these developments in Bangladesh’s electricity sector.
He also criticised the current situation, claiming that people were once again being deprived of the benefits of nationwide electrification and the comfort of uninterrupted electricity supplies.
Hamid accused the current BNP government of mismanagement, indecision and failure, alleging that these factors had contributed to an increase in load-shedding. The material provided for the report does not contain a response from the current government or relevant authorities to those allegations.
He said he remained hopeful that a return of Hasina to government would lead to reliable electricity and gas supplies and allow Bangladesh to resume its development trajectory.
Gas availability has long been closely linked to the country’s electricity sector because many power plants depend on gas as fuel. In January 2024, while serving as state minister, Hamid said the government was working towards ensuring uninterrupted gas supplies by 2026. He had also said that adequate fuel supplies would enable power plants to make fuller use of their generation capacity and support uninterrupted electricity delivery.
His latest comments therefore focus on the relationship between generation capacity, fuel availability and reliable electricity supply. While installed capacity is a key measure of the size of a power system, the ability to provide electricity consistently also depends on the availability of fuel, the operational status of power plants and the efficiency of transmission and distribution networks.
Hamid’s remarks were made in the context of Bangladesh’s wider political debate over the management of the power and energy sectors. His assessment of the current situation and his expectations for the future represent his stated political position.
