The government should immediately go for nuclear power to mitigate acute power crisis, which is hindering the country's economic growth, said speakers at a dialogue yesterday.

The speakers suggested setting up nuclear power plant in the wake of severe outage, as no power plant was established in the last seven years.

"It's imperative to introduce policies requisite for establishing nuclear power plant in Bangladesh immediately," said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, permanent representative of Bangladesh to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and United Nations offices in Geneva.

He stressed formation of an "independent regulatory body" which would separately provide regulatory supports to nuclear power sector so that it is not affected by existing complicated power system.

Debapriya's remarks came following a suggestion by M Asaduzzaman, research director of BIDS, who presented a keynote paper on "Energy for Development Options and Strategies for Bangladesh".

As Asaduzzaman made the recommendation, most of the participants including Dr M Tamim, chief adviser's special assistant for energy, supported it.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) organised the dialogue at Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre.

CPD Chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan chaired the discussion attended by power sector stakeholders, government officials and experts.

A debate on whether Bangladesh is ready for nuclear power melted when the chief adviser's special assistant and the chairman of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC) revealed their initiatives to set up a nuclear power plant.

"I have been encouraging the Ministry of Science behind the scene to take up an initiative to install a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh," said Dr Tamim.

He however said an immediate solution to power crisis is crucial now. Besides the long-term plan for nuclear power, he emphasised coal import and energy price adjustment with the global market price.

"We need to find out a way of power generation for the next five years first," he said.

After independence, the government had taken an initiative to set up a nuclear power plant in Rup Pur in Pabna and even acquired land. But the move did not come into light.

The present caretaker government has revived the project and planned to establish a 1,000MW nuclear plant.

BAEC Chairman Dr Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan said, "We are getting ready to set up a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh."

He said Bangladesh has already signed required deals with international organisations to set up the plant.

"We can overcome our political crisis. But if we fail to meet our electricity demand, it would be difficult to avoid an economic crisis," said Annisul Huq, president of FBCCI.

Currently, the government and private sector generate 3,800MW electricity against the daily demand of about 5,000MW.