PDB owes Tk 33,000 crore to power companies: Nasrul Hamid

Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) owes different power generation companies, both public and private (including Indian companies), Tk 33,108.99 crore.

State Minister for Power Nasrul Hamid placed this information in parliament today in response to a question from ruling Awami League MP Mamunur Rashid from Noakhali-3.

The state minister said the PDB buys electricity from government, private, joint venture companies, and imports and sells it to distribution companies.

He said different government power generation and transmission companies will get Tk 10,391.43 crore from PDB till February.

While, private power generation companies will get around Tk 15,000 crore till February.

At the same time, the power generation plants set up in joint ventures will get Tk 2,417 crore from PDB.

The state minister also said different companies including Adani will get Tk 5,297 crore from PDB for exporting electricity to Bangladesh.

In response to a question from independent MP Abdullah Nahid Nigar, the state minister said currently the power generation capacity is more than the demand for electricity in the country.

Although there is no shortage of power generation capacity according to demand, after the Covid-19 pandemic, due to the Ukraine-Russia war and the global energy crisis, power generation is not possible at full capacity.

"As a result, there is temporary difficulty in uninterrupted power supply in some places. In addition, the demand for electricity has increased due to extreme heat in some parts of the country," he also said.

The state minister hoped that the government would soon be able to provide uninterrupted and quality electricity to everyone.

In response to the question of AL MP Ahmed Hossain, the state minister said that a tender has already been made for the extraction of mineral resources in the deep sea.

The state minister said, 17 companies including Exxon Mobil, Chevron have expressed interest. They took the results of two-dimension survey. There is a pre-bid meeting with them tomorrow.

The bidding process will end next September. Companies can be appointed by the middle of next month and if there is oil and gas, the extraction can start after 7-8 years.