Businessmen demand a policy for energy sufficiency
Businessmen yesterday demanded that the present government formulate an acceptable energy policy so that the next governments support it in a way to make the country energy-sufficient.
They also called on the government to invest more in alternative energy sector, especially in the nuclear energy, to meet the growing energy demand.
The demands were raised at a luncheon meeting of the France-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry at a city hotel where Chief Adviser's Special Assistant Professor M Tamim attended as chief guest.
“Successive governments assumed power and set policies to serve their own interests. They were never held responsible for their wrongdoings but they put the country into risk making inadequacy of energy,” said Samson H Chowdhury, noted industrialist and a senior member of the chamber.
During the meeting the businessmen also underscored the need for immediate minimization of the supply-demand gap as business grows but energy production has remained stagnant for 10-12 years.
Chowdhury expressed his frustration over non-implementation of the Ruppur Nuclear Plant for the last 35 years.
Tamim said the government is working on framing necessary legislations for setting up a nuclear plant as desired by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The government is also contracting many countries who have nuclear energy technologies and can transfer those to Bangladesh, he added.
Tamim personally preferred setting up nuke energy plants to installing solar energy plants, as the latter ones need vast lands when Bangladesh has land shortage.
Citing example of the success in female education, the special assistant said the energy sector needs a common policy, which will be patronised by all the future governments.
Tamim also hinted at strengthening the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Production Company Limited (Bapex) saying that the present government already allocated a huge amount of money so that this state-run company can run independently.
French Ambassador Charley Causeret and Vice President of the chamber Shah Sayed Kamal also spoke on the occasion.
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