Thoughts on Bangladesh - 2
It is impossible for Bangladesh to move up in the economic
ladder without meeting its energy needs. In recent decades, with stronger
economy demand for higher standard of living has become a norm, which is
dependent on energy. A personal example may shed some light here.
Nearly 30 years ago, when my father built our six-story home
in Khulshi, Chittagong, it was the tallest building in the locality. It did not
have any elevator though, which was rather the norm then. Nowadays, most
residential buildings have elevators and are at least eight-story high. Very
few residents have 1-unit homes. As a result, our house is now surpassed by
many high-rises in our neighborhood once again reflecting the economic progress
that the country has made in the post-liberation period. In olden days, people
were satisfied with fans to cool off, but now they need air-condition units,
which consume more electricity. Many of the apartment or flat dwellers use
washing and drying machines to wash and dry their clothes which again consume
electricity. Many also use electric stoves and ovens to cook.
The demand for electricity simply has skyrocketed in every
sector, and not just limited to the housing sector. Its demand in the
industrial sector has been phenomenal. The ready-made garment industry is an
envy of the world providing superb quality at cheap price. Bangladesh, just
behind China, is now the second largest exporter of garment products to the
USA. (However, safety measures to ensure safety of the workers and workplace
has lagged behind in the progress card. As a result, in recent months
Bangladesh has witnessed some of the worst industrial accidents of our time.)
Bangladesh’s ship-breaking and –building industry has also
grown tremendously with demands for new ships coming from European countries.
Many of the new rich within Bangladesh have come from the ship-breaking
industry. They have now diversified their reach to other segments – all
requiring electricity, gas and water.
As already noted, however, Bangladesh has very limited reserves
for gas, oil and coal. And yet, its people were wasteful in its heydays of gas
recovery. In the 1970s many of the residential and commercial gas consumers let
the gas burn non-stop 24/7/365 even when they were not using it for cooking or
other purposes. Sadly, the cost of a single matchstick to burn the gas was
valued higher than the wastage that they were incurring on gas. It was criminal
and outrageous to the core! A major part of the problem outside the nonchalant
attitude of most gas consumers, which is now haunting everyone, was lack of any
gas meter to track the usage and as such, no penalty was imposed by the
state-run Titas Gas agency on abusers of energy.
The state-run gas agencies are now better managed, with gas
meters in place, and a consumer must first pay in advance its intended usage. Unfortunately,
when the consumers need gas for cooking, they don’t get enough supply because
of fast depleting reserves. So acute is the situation that real estate
developers are having difficulty delivering their newly made apartments to
buyers for lack of gas and electric supplies.
Vehicles in the ground transportation system have become a
major consumer of liquefied gas these days. Because of higher gasoline prices,
which are higher than those in the USA, most vehicles have alternative
compressed natural gas supplied canisters, which are comparatively cheaper, and
give a better mileage than gasoline. Naturally, with ever shrinking supplies
and limited reserves the gas consumers are now complaining.
As already noted, massive infrastructure needs to be
developed to improve its ground transportation/communication network. And such
an initiative must focus on mass transit system, esp. railways, which would
help to relieve congestion problem on the roads enormously. This initiative
would greatly reduce energy demand within Bangladesh.
To improve the energy supplies within the country, the
Hasina administration has taken serious steps and claims to have more than
doubled its old capacity since 2008. It has signed a bilateral treaty with
Russia which would enable Bangladesh to have its first nuclear plant. Bangladesh
has also signed treaty with its neighbor India on share of energy resources.
Alternative sources of energy, e.g., fuel cell, wind and
solar, however, have not yet been fully explored. Given the fact that
Bangladesh is blessed with hundreds of miles of coast from the Sundarbans to
Teknaf and a topical climate, I see tremendous opportunity in the latter two
areas to meet its vital energy demand. Collaboration with China may greatly
help in these areas.
Many Bangladeshi-born engineers now work or have worked for
some of the best known companies in the energy sector. Their skills, talents
and experience can be harnessed to grow the necessary competency that
Bangladesh currently lacks.
Bottom line: Bangladesh needs a smart policy that balances
its energy needs with environmental concerns. As I have noted in the previous
article that balance seem to be defective now. The general public has also not
been adequately educated about the pros and cons on those debates. Many of the
energy crusaders, sadly, are working for foreign interests to keep Bangladesh
dependent on others. Many are ignorant about the impact of their protests and
lack the necessary knowledge to make the right decision. A concerted effort
must be made by the press to debate such issues honestly.
To be continued>>>>
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