Bangladesh
Payra Power Plant Journey to the path of light has been successful: Sheikh Hasina
Dhaka, March 21: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that the democratic journey has continued in the last 13 years, but it is not that the storm has not come. That is what we have dealt with. We are working to meet all the needs of the people. We took up the task of providing electricity to the houses. Our goal - no house will be dark. In order to implement that goal, we have delivered electricity to everyone's house. The journey to the light has been successful.
She was speaking at the inaugural function of the 'Payra 1320 MW coal-fired power plant' built by Bangladesh-China Power Company (Pvt) Ltd. on Monday (March 21). The Prime Minister also announced this power plant as a gift on the occasion of Mujib Year, Golden Jubilee of Independence, Ramadan and Eid.
"No one will be able to suppress our journey on the path of development and prosperity," she said. Long before the independence of Bangabandhu, the issue of electrification in the region was taken very seriously. After independence, he took initiative to start closed industrial factories by increasing power generation.
He further said that after the formation of the government in 1996, we got 1600 MW of electricity, in the financial year 2000-2001 we increased it to 4300 MW. In the period 1996-2001, through the Rural Electrification Board, we constructed 54,489 km of power distribution lines and electrified 13,713 villages and there is no plan to electrify another 34,000 villages. We connect 32,000 new irrigation pumps.
The Prime Minister said, "When we came to power in 2009, we got only 3,267 MW of electricity." At present the total power generation capacity of the country is 25,514 MW. In 13 years, we have signed contracts for the construction of 156 power plants with a capacity of 30,666 MW. During this period, we have connected a total of 19,626 MW of electricity to the national grid and imported 144 power plants.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid Bipur presided over the function, which was attended by Tawfiq-e-Ilahi, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Power Secretary Md Habibur Rahman and Chinese Ambassador Li Jimming.
