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That the business community is upset is quite understandable. Business entities had poured in billions of Taka (BDT) over the years to expand industrial production on false promises made by policymakers of the immediate past regime. Assurances have turned out to be hollow and are now beginning to bite. These were some of the complaints voiced by business representatives at a seminar titled 'Ways of Mitigating Energy Crisis in the Industrial Sectors', organised by the Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) recently.
The energy advisor agreed with the predicament the industrialists face today, i.e. falling energy supplies vis-à-vis increased cost of energy inputs, the two together providing the perfect perspective for industrial stagnation. Forget about industrial growth, the current state of affairs is going to lead to factory closures and a curtailment of existing industrial production capacity.
While it is easy to blame the excesses of a previous regime, the quandary for the present energy advisor is what to do with the dwindling energy reserves at hand. There is no point in crying over spilled milk. Several useful recommendations were made at the seminar. First of all, there is no denying the fact that since the entire energy system is essentially state-owned, the issue of pilferage has largely remained unaddressed.
Despite claims made over the years by many utility companies that they have tried to stop the illegal connections, their efforts were meaningless in addressing the issue for two reasons: (1) corrupt practices by a section of officials, and (2) the influence exerted by local political elements directly involved in handing out such illegal connections, for personal profit. Now there is a non-partisan government in power. What excuse is there for tolerating such practices? As per data, plugging the loopholes in the system would save around 10 per cent of daily gas production, precious natural gas that could feed energy-starved productive sectors of the economy.
Interestingly enough, this government too has shied away from taking tough decisions when it comes to conserving natural gas. In an age of unprecedented fall in production, foot dragging continues on the issue of allowing for CNG supplies. This was a disastrous decision taken decades ago by another government that was under the impression that Bangladesh would forever be 'floating on gas' - something that turned out to be a mirage. Two decades later, the continued wastage of this precious fuel that should have been reserved for industrial use is instead, being burnt away uselessly as auto-gas.
As for business entities, the smart ones foresaw the writing on the wall. Some entities used past profits to electrify their factory rooftops with multi-megawatt solar solutions to wean off REB bills. The investments paid off rather fast thanks to availability of the right type of credit at hand. Other industrialists foresaw the possibility of an energy crunch and many RMG factory owners shifted their boiler technology to consume 'jhut' and other waste products coming from their factory lines. Yet others went a step further and turned their entire industrial production 'green' and reaped the profits by tapping into value-added orders from abroad. These steps were taken by a handful of industrial groups and they have survived the continued contraction of energy supplies. That is not the case with the bulk of industry. As for policymakers, there is no good news round the corner. It is time to take some hard decisions and clamp down on the corruption-riddled operations of state enterprises that constitute the energy sector. Take action now while there is still some hope of conserving what little resource there is.