Bangladesh’s Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku said the government is moving forward with the implementation of a plan to establish solar power plants with a total capacity of 10,000 megawatts. He made the remarks on Monday while speaking as the chief guest at a workshop titled “Unnayan Konthoshor” organized by the National Development Program at the China Friendship Conference Center.

The minister noted that rising costs in the power and energy sector have become a major challenge for the government. Since taking office, the government has spent around 2 billion dollars on energy imports, with global conflicts driving up import expenses and electricity generation costs, putting pressure on the country’s foreign currency reserves. He also said that although the previous government achieved success in securing maritime boundaries, it failed to ensure effective progress in exploring and extracting marine energy resources, while neighboring countries have advanced in this area.

Tuku emphasized that the development of renewable energy is crucial for building a welfare-oriented state and called for greater investment and technical cooperation from development partners. He added that tax relaxations have been introduced in the current budget to encourage solar power use at individual and commercial levels.