Power situation to improve from this evening: State minister

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Aninda Islam Amit said on Wednesday that the country’s power situation is expected to improve somewhat from Wednesday evening.

He said gas supplies from one of the country’s floating LNG terminals had been suspended due to rough seas in the Bay of Bengal, while another terminal was not operating at full capacity following an accident.

“This has created a fuel shortage, disrupting power generation and increasing load-shedding,” he told reporters at the Secretariat.

Responding to questions, the state minister said the government was making its utmost efforts to manage the situation through alternative measures, as natural disasters were beyond anyone’s control.

“By this evening, the power situation will improve somewhat and load-shedding will decrease. However, it is not possible to specify at this stage when the fuel crisis will be fully resolved,” he said.

He also said the government was working to bring LNG from Malaysia using ISO tanks.

The government was seeking advice from experts and businesspeople to tackle the crisis, Amit said, adding that domestic production could not be increased overnight.

“The ministry is pursuing a long-term solution,” he said.

The state minister blamed what he described as flawed policies of the previous Awami League government in the power and energy sector for the current crisis.

“The country would have faced this kind of crisis at some point,” he said.

Amit said the situation had caused greater public suffering as the crisis emerged during the summer.

“We are sorry for this and apologise to the people once again,” he said.

He said one LNG terminal was completely shut while another was operating at limited capacity, making it impossible to make up for the gas shortfall.

“The government is taking all necessary measures to restore the situation to normal,” he added.