Is there an end to endless power outages?

Ailing and limping, the country’s power sector is in the doldrums. On Wednesday last a Bengali daily from Dhaka front-paged, “Power crisis is terrifying”. Indeed, power outages have become widespread amid fear of further woes by erratic electricity supply, while it is affecting the lives of the dwellers with about six to seven hours of outages in a day. Load-shedding in the summer may be worse than that of the previous year.

 

The country’s overall electricity generation is now hovering around 4,500 MW, but during the summer the demand will be around 7,000 MW. The BPDB is learnt to have proposed a load management proposal to the energy ministry from one hour to four hours a day during the summer to cope with the electricity supply shortage.

 

Headlined “Tk 20,000cr fuel subsidy this year”, a news report detailed the subsidy issue towards the end of last year. Although Bangladesh has revised retail fuel prices and power tariff frequently this fiscal year, the government would have to pay up more than Tk. 20,000 crore, which is highest so far, as fuel subsidy, as reported in an English daily on 15 October 2011. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) opined that fuel consumption is expected to cross seven million tonnes, up from an average three million tonnes in the previous decade. In 2010, the country imported 4.8 million tonnes at a cost of Tk. 29,000 crore, which is expected to cross Tk. 49,000 crore. According to the central bank’s letter of credit (LC) settlement statistics, import of petroleum surged 135 per cent in the July-September quarter, this fiscal year, compared with the same period last year.

 

The country’s demand for power used to be met by gas extracted from local fields. But gas supply has failed to meet the rising demand for electricity, leading to chronic power shortages. According to the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) the main reason for soaring oil consumption was the introduction of privately held fuel-based quick-rental power plants, as well as a rise in captive power plants at factories. The oil subsidy bill in the 2011-12 financial year will rise to more than Tk. 20,000 crore. 

 

Power generation by such plants started last year. Before that, Bangladesh used to import 32-35 lakh tons of fuel every year.

 

The government permitted private companies to install 24 power plants with a total generation capacity of 2,770 megawatts. Afterwards, the government permitted some more privately-owned power plants. Initially, the project tenure was for three to five years, but for some projects, the lifeline is about 15 years, which, according to economists, is not judicious at all.

 

It is common knowledge that it has become a jigsaw puzzle that while government claims addition of 27,000MW of electricity to the national grid and often laying foundation stone of new power stations and also inaugurating new plants’ operation here and there, curiously load-shedding has reached a unbearable scale in recent times crippling the life of the people, forcing mills and factories to close shutters. The country is set for higher growth trajectory (7.5pc) in the next fiscal. 

 

Controversial indemnity bill

In an article entitled “Bangladesh Energy Sector: Crisis Compounding” dated October 14, 2010, an engineer in a blog opined, “Failing to conclude some major power project contracts following the customary process the AL Government has enacted the controversial indemnity bill for managing power and energy sector contract awards on unsolicited offers”. He cogently questioned, “Why democratic government actions cannot be challenged in court?” [Reference explorexdark@gmail.com] He is not alone; many people are asking the same question.

 

But, almost certainly the economy is in a much lower growth path than what is suggested and when the BBS begins to put the accounts together many top economists bristling on the economic border rightly or wrongly think that they’re in for a big surprise. To make things worse, last week power tariff went up: retail consumers are to pay more. It is the second hike this year and the fifth since the AL government took office in 2009. But by many yardsticks, it may not be an equitable solution to all. Besides, the consumers are flatly denied quality service—power supply without interruption. However, the hike, a typical one, is liquid fuel cost adjustment. 

 

PDB’s losses

The PDB ran a deficit of Tk 40bn in this FY12 with government subsidy of Tk 370 milion only. Government had no other option, as if tariff was not increased, the power board would clock losses to the tune of Tk.560cr for Jan-June period this year, as the prices of diesel and furnace oil (2 basic raw materials to generate electricity) went up by Tk.5 a litre last December. PDB high-ups should also strengthen the internal audit system of the state-owned agency for enhancing management and maintenance efficiency to slash subsidies in the power sector, such as checking the turbine blades at plants like Ashuganj. 

 

In the current FY, the government is set to allocate Tk.20, 000cr more in subsidies for the sector and according to the Finance Minister in JS, the government already owes Tk.40,000cr to the commercial banks. 

 

Government will have to bring forward the subsidy burden in the upcoming budget amidst a period when the Finance Minister said at BMA on 31 March that it will take another 8-10 years to anchor a suitable position for our present moribund economy if the political instability persists. 

 

The chairman of BERC says increased electricity would help the government save about Tk.10bn in annual subsidies. Insiders say, the operators of costlier quick power rental power plants receive more money than their production cost and none knows where the extra amount in billions lands up. 

 

Very costly quick power stations

And already, government has set up these very costly quick power stations in mid-2010 and reportedly doling out excess subsidies to buy electricity from them at a very exorbitant price. Here lies the jugglery. The first whistle was blown by those smelling rats when it was officially admitted that Tk.20,000cr were spent on subsidy to power sector alone in just four months (Nov 2011 - Feb 2012, far more that the target for the whole running fiscal year). 

 

As already hinted, prices of petroleum products have skyrocketed especially because of Taka’s falling value. However, the focus should be on reduction of cost of power production to minimise the cost gradually. 

 

Actually we ought to go for long-term plan instead of quick rental power production method to adjust the price. It is now high time to identify reasons for subsidy and toward that end to identify the leakage of the distribution system of power to reduce cost of power generation. 

 

Makeshift arrangement won’t work

Meanwhile, the Desco’s managing director has resigned from his post and an AL stalwart said at a meeting of Dhaka Reporters’ Unity that the present Adviser on power sector is no less responsible for the power abyss as he is simply a bureaucrat with no touch with electrical nitty-gritty.  

 

A sneak peek into past years reflects that the country hears a lot of rhetoric and demagoguery from all quarters on power independence and its long-term planning. Unbelievable it may seem, no such roadmap is on the table addressing all the aspects of power security. Knee-jerk reaction to a serious problem that requires serious study, planning, preparation and implementation dynamics in a continual manner will just make it worse. Any makeshift arrangement is temporary by nature. Despite many master plans by both Petrobangla for gas and PDB for power, no comprehensive and clear guideline has been in place by either agencies or the concerned ministry. 

 

2013 or 2015?

On Feb 13,2012, the cabinet secretary disclosed to newsmen that there would be no more load-shedding during the 2013 summer and only 2 months ago, the Finance Minister told in a seminar that the power crisis would only end by 2015.This is confusing. To weather a power crisis, the generating capacity is to be 20pc above the peak demand time —-5pm  to 11pm but at that time unnecessary street, garden lights, illumination in large hotels, eateries, malls, showrooms, billboards, air-cooling in government buildings are not rationed and many areas and gardens are awash with lights even at 10am! 

 

One authority says the peak hour demand in 2012 is about 7,500MW, another says it is 6,000MW during this summer. Is the PDB doing its homework correctly or the public are misinformed? Prayers for new connections specially at buildings developed by builders were kept pending for a long time but later it was known that connections are only available at a certain premium, no matter how old the application is.

 

However, public want a realistic picture of the supply and demand in power and with so many sources of power generation in place, why has the load-shedding intensified and which areas are not affected at all over 24 hours. Then why did the PDB sit idle for one year after the AL came to power and if it was prudent to go for high-cost rental power stations on deals that smell highly fishy or shady?

 

Fate of two MoUs, joint venture

Furthermore, after inking two MoUs by PDB and India’s NTPC to build a 1,320MW coal-fired power plant at Khulna and Chittagong under a joint venture was abandoned. Why? The fate of the one at Barapukuria, Dinajpur, near the coalmine, also remains unknown. Then again in August 2010, another joint venture was to install 3 thermal power projects, each of 1500MW at Chittagong, Barisal and Khulna, to alleviate the country’s nagging electricity shortage on 50-50 equity basis. These were to produce under Build, Own & Operate (BOO) basis about 1,088MW of electricity by 2014. Can we know their present status? 

 

That said, can we now request the authorities concerned to clarify the fluid situation? Be that as it may, to dwell upon the worrying power sector scenario, albeit in brief, the PDB told the government early this year that unless there is cash incentive to operate the 14 liquid fuel-based rental plants during this summer, the country will experience a 5-hour power outage everyday. 

 

Huge cost to wreak havoc

Competent sources in the finance ministry say that it could provide Tk.5,400cr as subsidy but it cannot produce more than 5,330MW against the demand for 7,233MW during the irrigation season. As of now government signed 50 contracts to install 52 power plants with or without tender. Experts, not bureaucrats, point out that sans any fuel price change, government with an empty coffer will have to manage subsidies worth $2-3bn on the fast climbing prices of fuel oils imported by BPC.

 

The power sector needs one lakh metric tonnes of liquid fuel oil to generate power from the rental units. There is a note of caution. An additional cost of power generation would cost between Tk.52-56bn this year, 2012, wreaking havoc on our economy which already is in a tailspin. Obviously, our job is cut out for a crucial situation. So, all concerned will have to sit across the table to arrive at a viable solution. 

 

Last but not least, it is advisable that the incumbents adopt effective steps to harness renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and hydropower.

 

BY : Ghulam Murshed. 

Saudi diplomat murder mystery exposed

Sensational information regarding Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali [45], the diplomat with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, who was gunned down by unidentified miscreants during late hours of March 5, 2012 in the capital city of Bangladesh, has reached Weekly Blitz investigative journalists. It may be mentioned here that, shortly after midnight, Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali was found 30 metres from his home in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave named Gulshan.

He had bullet wounds to his chest and was taken to a hospital. A security guard at his home, told reporter al-Ali used to roam around by a bicycle at night but he went outside on foot on the night he was murdered. Two other security guards near the crime scene told reporters they heard one gunshot and found al-Ali lying on the street, while one of the security guards saw a white-color car speedily fleeing the spot right after the gun shot were heard. Crime experts in Dhaka have opined that the murder might have been committed by any professional killer. Investigators said there was no blood stain at the place where dead body of the diplomat was found.

It is apprehended by them that the diplomat might have been killed at another place and later his dead body might have been thrown near to his residence. However, Bangladeshi police confirmed that the murder was "pre-planned" and professional killers were used in it. This is the first time in the history of Bangladesh that a diplomat has been murdered in the capital city. It may be mentioned here that last year, the US government accused Iranian agents of being part of a foiled plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US, and Israel has accused Iran of attacks or attempted attacks on its diplomats in India, Thailand and Georgia this year. Iran has denied all of the accusations. In May 2011, gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan, killed a Saudi diplomat. Iranian embassy in Dhaka is also suspected for the murder of Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali, as it had already been accused a number of times for killing Saudi diplomats as well as attacking diplomats from Israel, Saudi Arabia and other nations.

Following the murder of the Saudi diplomat in Bangladesh, there is now apprehension of beginning of a real crisis centering two million Bangladeshi workers in Saudi Arabia, if there was no real result in the investigation into this heinous murder case. It may be mentioned here that, Bangladeshi authorities failed to identify the killers when a journalist couple were slaughtered in Dhaka few weeks back. Though the home minister initially promised to unearth the mystery and nab the culprits within 48 hours, members of the law enforcing agencies completely failed in showing any sign of progress in this regard. It is feared by many that if the same thing will happen centering murder of the Saudi diplomat in Dhaka, it will welcome a dire consequence for the nation, if the Saudi authorities will become offended and annoyed and expel all the two million plus Bangladeshi workers from that country.

While a eight-member probe team from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is already Bangladesh to investigate the murder of Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali, there is exploding scoop on the untold facts of this tragic and brutal murder, which lately came to Weekly Blitz from a number of sources. According to the information, the Saudi diplomat Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali was regularly meeting various leaders of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as well as some of the front ranking leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party during late hours of the days secretly, which came into the attention of a sensitive intelligence agency of the country. It was apprehended by that intelligence agency Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali was "extending assistance to Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami" in particular in helping it from overcoming the crisis situation of elimination from Bangladeshi politics. It may be mentioned here that, Bangladesh Awami League led government is actively considering banning Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, which may happen anytime.

According to the scoop, the intelligence agency of a neighboring country trained at least 75 nefarious armed cadres of the ruling party during October 2009 to June 2010. Since their return to Bangladesh, these cadres are provided "safe shelter" inside a couple of houses in Dhaka, which are located within the diplomatic enclaves. They go out with "operation mission" during dark hours and return to the safe shelters on completions of such mission, which includes abduction as well as secret killing. On the night of the murder of Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali, the Saudi diplomat was stopped on road when he came out from the residence of a Jamaat-e-Islami leader by few members of the killing squad. He was pulled inside a car and taken inside one of the safe shelters, where he was murdered. Later the killers re-loaded Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali's dead body and dumped it near his residence and fled the spot. It may be mentioned here that, even Bangladeshi investigators expressed surprise seeing no blood stain within the spot, where the Saudi diplomat's dead body was recovered. Few of them though already told media that the murder might have been taken place at a different place and the dead body dumped on the roadside, such statements were reportedly stopped at the instruction of the same sensitive intelligence agency. But the Saudi authorities have also become curious to identify the reason of seeing no blood stain, where the dead body of their diplomat was dumped.

The source said the trained cadres of the ruling party are taking part in regular mission of abduction and secret killing, which already has resulted in alarming rise in such incidents in the recent days. It said, the Saudi investigation team, comprising highly skilled professionals will seek assistance from Bangladeshi as well as international investigation and forensic experts in unearthing this mystery behind murder of their diplomat. If during this investigation, the topic of scoop turns true, there will be very stern action by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which will put the future of two plus

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Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi wins by-election: NLD party

Burma's Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has won a by-election for parliament, her party says, after a landmark vote that saw 45 seats contested.

 

Ms Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) said she had easily won in Kawhmu, though no official results are expected before Monday.

In a statement, she urged supporters to show restraint in their celebrations.

The vote is a key test of political reforms, though the army and its allies dominate the 664-seat parliament.

The NLD was competing in its first elections since 1990.

'Dignified'

 

Thousands of people who gathered outside the NLD headquarters in Rangoon danced and cheered at reports that Ms Aung San Suu Kyi had won her seat.

"It is the people's victory! We have taught them a lesson," one shopkeeper wearing an NLD T-shirt told the Associated Press news agency.

Ms Suu Kyi said in a statement: "It is natural that the NLD members and their supporters are joyous at this point.

"However, it is necessary to avoid manners and actions that will make the other parties and members upset. It is very important that NLD members take special care that the success of the people is a dignified one." 

During the campaign, foreign journalists and international observers were given the widest access for years.

The European Union hinted that it could ease some sanctions if the vote went smoothly.

The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Rangoon says the NLD alleged some voting irregularities in the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP news agency he had sent a letter of complaint to the election commission over allegations ballot forms had been tampered with.

He said there had been complaints that wax had been put over the tick-box for the party, which could later be rubbed off to cancel the vote.

"This is happening around the country. The election commission is responsible for what is occurring," he said.

Burma's current government is still dominated by figures from the old military regime that ruled the country for decades and was accused of widespread rights abuses.

But since 2010, when a political transition began, the government has impressed observers with the pace of change.

Most political prisoners have been freed, media restrictions have been relaxed and, crucially, Ms Suu Kyi and the NLD have been persuaded to rejoin the political process.

They have taken no part in Burma's politics since 1990, when the NLD won a landslide victory in a general election but the military refused to accept the result. 

Ms Suu Kyi spent much of the following 20 years under house arrest and refused to take part in the 2010 election, which ushered in the current reforms.

The NLD was one of 17 opposition parties that took part in Sunday's election. Only a fraction of seats were up for grabs and the military-backed party will still dominate.

Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, 66, was standing for a lower house seat in the Kawhmu Township constituency, outside Rangoon.

On Sunday, she visited polling stations in Kawhmu before heading back to Rangoon.

Our correspondent says regardless of the outcome of the by-elections, Burma's balance of power will not change overnight and full democracy is still a long way off.

She says all Burma's ethnic minorities must be made to feel they have a voice in the political system and that President Thein Sein still needs to convince more wary parliamentarians that it is in the country's interests to open up to the outside world.

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Bangladesh Ruling Party Fails In Resolving Electricit​y Crisis

At least two intelligence agencies in Bangladesh have warned the ruling party of sudden spark of mass revolt by the civilians following limitless sufferings caused by extreme shortage of electricity, which not only is jeopardizing public life, but also is destroying country’s economic backbone. “One or multiple mass revolt may break out at any time in the country during the month of June-September, as there is no sign of any improvement in the existing severe power crisis”, the report said.

It said the opposition parties may now pick up the power crisis issue at the top of their anti-government agenda, which will help them in getting huge support from the masses, who already are totally frustrated and annoyed on the ruling party. Meanwhile, seeing the power crisis continuing to increase, the energy advisor of the Prime Minister, Dr. Tawfiq Elahi Chowdhury has visibly gone into isolation from the media, as he too is now nervous thinking the ultimate consequences of his failures, which may cause any political setback in the country. Meanwhile, Bangladesh Nationalist Party is reportedly taking series of movement plans on the issue of power crisis to press the ruling party into corner. The opposition will also make countrywide appeal to the people to raise voice against the failure of the ruling party in addressing the power crisis as well as limitless looting of public wealth in the name of Quick Rental Power Plant(QRPP). Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) may sponsor several Writ Petitions in the apex judiciary in the country by various people from different walks of life, demanding court’s order in releasing White Paper on the existing situation prevailing in the power sector. Political analysts feel, if BNP top-brasses will ultimately give green signal to such movement strategies, it will surely put the ruling party into serious political challenges.

The urban Bangladesh now faces almost 10-12 hours load shedding every day while the situation in the rural areas are even worst, where in most cases, the length of load-shedding range between 18-20 hours. Though the current government led by Bangladesh Awami League made specific pledges to the nation of greatly resolving the power shortage maximum by 2012, in reality the situation is getting worst from bad. Power crisis has already affected country’s production sector, while severe environmental pollution is continuing due to use of generators at domestic, commercial and industrial establishments. Diesel-run generators not only create unbearable noise, it also releases hazardous smokes or gas, which is extremely vulnerable to human health.

Bangladesh Awami League led government signed dozens of contracts with various private companies for getting quick rental power plants in the country, which were expected to contribute in prompt resolving the existing power shortage. As of August 2011, establishment and timely commencing production of the major segments of the power plant, contracted to be established on “Quick Rental” basis in Bangladesh were failing gradually, thus not only causing huge amount of financial loss to national exchequer but also increased sufferings of the citizen of the country. Up to April, 2011 all the 14 Quick Rental Power Plant (QRPP) projects, which were undertaken by the ruling Bangladesh Awami League government on a fast-track basis to generate electricity to meet the current acute power crisis in the country, have miserably failed to commence production. According to contract, these projects were scheduled to start production latest by April 2011.

The policy of letting private companies establish QRPP was greatly criticized by experts in the country. Many said, this was a mere money-making project of some of the influential figures in the government and the ruling party. Awami League government adopted a Crash Program in October 2009 to set up power generation plants in next five years having total capacity of 7,000 MW. So far, the government has signed contracts for 33 power plants in the public and private sectors. Among those, most are costly quick rental and rental power plants. The private sector sponsors were supposed to install these plants from which the government would purchase electricity at a very exorbitant rate of between TK 9.75 (US$ 0.13) and TK 22 (US$0.29) per unit.

Power Development Board (PDB) said, the rental, quick rental and peaking plants were undertaken on a fast-track basis to address the nagging power crisis. The QRPP projects were supposed to add about 1,000 MW of electricity to the national grid. These QRPP projects are Meghnaghat 100 MW, Khulna 115 MW, Meghnaghat 100 MW, Ghorasal 78.5 MW, Ashuganj 80 MW (gas-generated), Keraniganj 100 MW, Ashuganj 53 MW, Noapara 40 MW, Amnura 50 MW (Chapainawabganj district), Juldha 100 MW, Siddhirganj 100 MW and Katakhali 50 MW.

Energy ministry sources in Bangladesh claimed that, QRPP were considered to be quickest method of meeting the growing demands of electricity in the country, and end consumers will pay the same or a bit less for their electricity.

Opposing the idea of QRPP, experts said that mostly second-hand equipments and machinery are used in such plants, which will be less efficient and the tariff will ultimately rise. They argue that the government would be better off spending money on upgrading the existing power stations. It was also told by the experts that almost eighty percent of the QRPP in Bangladesh were drawing bills from the government without supplying any electricity to the national grid or were making false bills showing fake production capacity. Another source said, almost all the QRPPs in Bangladesh are not producing even 5 percent of their contracted electricity, while they are continuing to receive bills for the total volume of contracted electricity by establishing a syndicate of looters with the help of few extremely influential figures in the government as well as the ministry and the departments concerned. Since the current government came in power and started giving contracts to QRPPs, a few million hundred dollars have been regularly looted every month from the national exchequer, while the government is engaged in exorbitant increase in price of electricity as well as fuel. The situation is like, as if the ruling party is snatching money from the people with the promise of improving the power crisis, while in reality major segment of such money is not only looted in free-style, but also smuggled out of the country.

Bangladesh’s energy infrastructure is quite small, insufficient and poorly managed. The per capita energy consumption in Bangladesh is one of the lowest (136 kWH) in the world. Non-commercial energy sources, such as wood, animal wastes, and crop residues, are estimated to account for over half of the country’s energy consumption. Bangladesh has small reserves of oil and coal, but very large natural gas resources. Commercial energy consumption is mostly natural gas (around 66 percent), followed by oil, hydropower and coal.

Electricity is the major source of power for country’s most of the economic activities. Bangladesh’s installed electric generation capacity was 4.7 GW in 2009; only three-fourth of which is considered to be ‘available’.

Only 40 percent of the population has access to electricity with a per capita availability of 136 kWh per annum. Problems in the Bangladesh’s electric power sector include corruption in administration, high system losses, and delays in completion of new plants, low plant efficiencies, erratic power supply, electricity theft, blackouts, and shortages of funds for power plant maintenance. Overall, the country’s generation plants have been unable to meet system demand over the past decade.

In generating and distributing electricity, the failure to adequately manage the load leads to extensive load shedding which results in severe disruption in the industrial production and other economic activities. A recent survey reveals that power outages result in a loss of industrial output worth US$1 billion a year which reduces the GDP growth by about half a percentage point in Bangladesh. A major hurdle in efficiently delivering power is caused by the inefficient distribution system. It is estimated that the total transmission and distribution losses in Bangladesh amount to one-third of the total generation, the value of which is equal to US$ 247 million per year. Bangladesh has 15 MW solar energy capacities through rural households and 1.9 MW wind power in Kutubdia and Feni. Bangladesh has planned to produce 5 percent of total power generation by 2015 & 10 percent by 2020 from renewable energy sources like air, waste and solar energy.

The Ministry of Power and Energy has been mobilizing TK. 40,000 crore (US$ 5.88 billion) to generate 5,000 MW of electricity to reduce load shedding into a tolerable level within next three years during the term of the present government, which came in power in January 2009. Under this plan, Power Development Board (PDB) was supposed to generate 500MW gas-generated electricity between July-December 2009. 

The PDB was also supposed to hire furnace-oil based 1000MW electricity from private sector during January-June 2010. According to this plan, the government was also supposed to install furnace-oil based 800MW power plant. But so far, most of such five-year plans have miserably failed.

Meanwhile the government decided to establish a 1000MW Nuclear based power plant with Russian technical assistance at Rooppur. Bangladesh government already has signed a framework agreement with Russia in this regard. Commenting on possible risk of radiation leaking from the damaged nuclear plant as it happened in Japan, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “those power plants were constructed 40 years back, whereas present security systems at the nuclear power plants have improved significantly.”

Bangladesh government aspires to complete the first 1000MW nuclear based power station at Rooppur by 2015 while another plant is planned to be established at the same site with same production capacity by 2018.

Ministry sources indicate that, Russians though have signed contract with the Bangladesh government for the establishment of nuclear based power station, it has not yet submitted the details on how Bangladesh would dispose off the nuclear waste that would be released from the plant.

Experts have already issued warning of potential hazards; much ahead of Bangladesh concluded the deal with Russia, without properly evaluating the risk hazards. Sources within the energy ministry, on condition of anonymity told Times of Assam that, decisions related to power plants are being exclusively dictated and finalized by Prime Minister’s advisor Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi, who, according to energy experts, greatly lacks in proper knowledge and experience on such nuclear power plants. Moreover, there are serious allegation of manipulation and corruption by Dr. Tawfiq in finalizing power plant deals. Many opine that, he is solely responsible for the current failures of establishment of QRPP by private and public companies.

Meanwhile, a local company named Quantum Power Limited (an enterprise of OTOBI Limited) was already fined TK 200 crore (US$ 25 million) for their failure in commencing production of a 105MW plant at Bheramara district in Bangladesh. Quantum Power Limited got this contract against QEPP project. The authorities concerned though have collected an amount of TK. 6.4 million (US$ 90,000) only as penalty money out of the total amount of TK 200 crore (US$ 25 million), while, OTOBI is actively pursing with various important figures in the government including the energy advisor in averting payment of the remaining amount of penalty.

QRPP projects have already come totally messed up as the policymakers in the energy ministry, instead of looking into national interest were busier in making evil cash. A large number of projects were also illegally awarded to a company owned by two of the influential and controversial ministers in the government.

Even 20 months after a major gas-fired power plant in Ghorashal went out of order due to negligence of its technicians; the Power Development Board (PDB) could not select a contractor to repair it due to a slow bidding process and change of decisions. The damage of the 210 megawatt plant in July 2010 worsened the country’s load shedding situation. As it remains out of order, the government is spending extra money to buy similar amount of power from rental power plants, said a well-placed PDB official. While the lowest purchase price of power from rental plants is TK 4.8 per kilowatt hour, the same amount of power from Ghorashal plant, built by Russian company Technopromexport, costs less than TK 3. This means the government is counting heavy replacement cost. Some insiders at Energy Ministry seeking anonymity said the 210-megawatt power station at Ghorashal is kept shut-down by the syndicate of looters, who are taking undue advantage of this situation and continuing to visibly rob-off the nation.

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Bangladeshi ‘Roopkatha’ Now World's Youngest Computer Programmer

Wasik Farhan Roopkatha, a six-year-old Bangladeshi boy, has hogged the headlines of the international media as he created history by clinching the title of world's youngest computer programmer.

The story of Roopkatha, Bangla for 'fairytale', has overshadowed even (a) fairytale. The New York Herald Tribune, California Observer, Estate News, Children Post and many international websites have recognized him as the youngest computer programmer on earth.

The UK-based globally-acclaimed TV show, Ripley's Believe It or Not, informed his parents recently that the Ripley's would include Roopkatha in its new book, which would hit bookshops worldwide in September this year. His parents have already penned an agreement with Ripley's to this end.

At this tender age of six, when most of the children play games with toys, Roopkatha develops his own computer system (with windows) and runs tags and code of computer programming like an expert.

The born genius, a resident of Gulshan in the capital Dhaka, unbelievably started computing when he was hardly seven months old, and learned writing on computer at the age of only two, said his proud mother Cynthia Farheen Risha.

"Every day, the wonder boy spends more than 12 hours on computer and knows how to change the games' characters by using emulator. He has also an excellent command over computer programming language (C & C++)," she said.

At the beginning, his parents tried to refrain him from playing on computer as they though that spending much time on computer may damage his eyes.

"But our efforts went futile as the boy made a hullabaloo and stopped taking food protesting our move. At last, we were compelled to allow him to play on computer, and now he spends 12-13 hours on computer every day," Risha said.

She said her son's curiosity about computer had started a couple of days after his birth. He would look at computer monitor with eyes unblinking and refrained from eating until the computer was switched on.

She said Roopkatha never took IT lessons and learned everything without taking anybody's help.


Risha said he has already played more than 700 games and completed many complicated games like Sonic-knuckles(all sonic series), Prince of Persia, Terminator 3, Hercules, Air Conflicts, Age of Mythology, lock on, azangara, Metal Gear Solid, Mig-29 fulcrum, Mario Forever(all Mario series), Super Mario64 Nintendo 64, Need for Speed series, The bugs life, legend of Zelda, Star Defender, Red dead redemption, lock on flaming cliffs, Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun, Flight simulator lll, Eve online, Modern Warfare 2, FPS mechanics, Age of Empires 3, Rise of Legends, Castle vania - legacy of darkness act.

The computer prodigy can develop software using various emulator such as project64 1.7, dolphin, Game Cube, Nintendo 64, Gameboy Advance, Virtual Boy, DeSmuME and Computer Emulators. PC- Engine Emulators, Wonderswan Emulators, Atari 2600 Emulators, Atari Jaguar Emulators, MSX Emulators, Microsoft XBox, Microsoft XBox 360 act.

He knows operating system setup and troubleshooting. And more than 5000 English words are in his store and with the words, he can make sentences.

Typing is a very simple matter to him as the boy can type words with his tiny fingers as swift as any highly efficient typist without having a look at the keyboard.

The computer wizard can perfectly manage games project tools and
synchronize any project with other projects. He can also use different complex codes and run them easily.

Roopkatha can browse internet and send emails without any help. He can also enter any website and search any information through search engines. He has also good knowledge about hardware side by side with an excellent command over MS Word, Windows XP, Power Point, Angle and Photo Shop.

Creating file through MS Word, text design, picture ad, graph and table work, accounting through excel, picture moving operation through power point, slide show and sound and music ad work are matters of minutes to him.

Roopkatha can edit any picture in photo shop easily and insert the character of one game into another by changing information. He can install gaming software on computer after downloading from internet. Besides, he also can install various software and games in the PC from compact disc (CD).

Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Service (BASIS) accorded a reception to Roopkatha recently as a youngest computer programmer.

"I must say from the technological point of view that Roopkatha is definitely a wonder baby. I am amazed knowing the time and energy he dedicates to this complex programming, " said Aksadur Rahman, programmer and project manager of MediaSoft.

Roopkatha's businessman father Wasim Farhan and mother Risha hope that their son would become a great programmer in future and introduce a new episode in the cyber world.

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