Bangladesh’s Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, stated that citizens have been left with a heavy debt burden due to past decisions in the power sector. Speaking on Thursday, February 26, at the ministry’s conference room during the handover ceremony of the Forum for Energy Reporters Bangladesh (FERB) executive committee, he said it is better to endure hardship than to remain trapped in debt.

The minister criticized previous governments for failing to follow earlier policy guidelines that limited private participation in power generation to 35 percent. He noted that private involvement has now reached 82 percent, reducing government control and increasing financial liabilities. He also highlighted inefficiencies such as idle power plants requiring capacity payments and a rise in system loss from 6 percent to 10 percent over 19 years. Each percentage point of system loss equals about 5 million taka in losses.

Tuku said the government aims to reduce system loss to 3 percent, starting with a directive to bring it down to 5 percent. He added that discussions are underway with private power producers to reach a balanced solution without raising electricity prices.