BANGLADESH Dhaka, the collapse of electricity supply endangers life and productivity

A businessman talks eight to ten hours a day without light. And the increase in the price of fuel makes it difficult to use electric generators. Losses affect both cities and agricultural areas. The government assures that it will act in the next two weeks, the companies fear a flight of foreign buyers and clients.

Dhaka () – Between eight and ten hours a day without electricity. The price of fuel to run the generator continues to rise. The progressive increase in costs and delays in the delivery of prints. It is a daily challenge, but at the same time a ruthless portrait of the conditions that are lived in Bangladesh today, as can be seen from the story of Bablu Ratno, a Catholic who is dedicated to managing printing machinery. An obstacle course in which the first problem is to deal with power cuts.

Blackouts affect both cities and agricultural areas. The Rural Electrification Board (REB), the agency in charge of electricity distribution in most of the country’s towns, receives 30% less energy than it needs per day. In many areas, the power supply has been reduced to half of the demand and, in some, the cuts last for more than 10 hours, which interrupts the production chain or forces the workers to keep vigils at night.

Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) and Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) are the two entities that supply electricity to the capital. Officials from both organizations confirmed that power losses occur at least three times a day in most areas, so between the two companies they have lost about 600 megawatts (MW) per hour.

Combined with the fuel crisis, energy shortages have led to a collapse in industrial production, and top managers in the sector fear a serious disruption in production and the consequent blockade of exports, loss of foreign customers and buyers, and huge fines for breach of contract. In this context, there is a great waste of raw materials, workers’ wages have decreased and the lack of gas and electricity has paralyzed many industries. For the past two weeks, most of the factories in the main production areas have been facing an emergency situation, with outages occurring three to four times a day.

The energy crisis threatens to become an industrial and production crisis shortly. In the past, foreign buyers used to go to Bangladesh for clothing, especially after the difficulties in Sri Lanka. Many customers from China and Vietnam are still interested in Bangladesh. But if the goods cannot be delivered on time due to power shortage, they will soon leave the country and move to other places. Rony Costa, a textile worker, confirmed to that production in the clothing sector has declined drastically. “I am concerned about a situation that is terrible,” he said. “I ask the government to take decisive measures as soon as possible” to solve the problem, concluded this 42-year-old Catholic.

The government is trying to remedy the situation and assures that it will take decisive measures to solve the emergency, but doubts remain about these guarantees. Nasrul Hamid, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, said the issue should be resolved in the next two weeks thanks to “the work of the last two months.” “However”, he concluded, “there are several challenges that we must address”, such as the economic framework and the supply of oil and gas, which “require specific efforts”.