Member Info for jollychippy

Just having a thought of the numerous posters that always twist others thoughts and opinions. So decided to twist there screen names around for a bit of fun:

Earlofaim = A Film Aero (full of Air)

Dogcatmouse= sad outcome (No G)

Youknowitsright= Wrong Shout I Inky

Youknowitsright

If they are waiting for the renewable energy to power their country, it will take at least 20 years to build it all & and require hundreds of billions of dollars that they don’t have , let’s hope they have 20-25 years worth of candles in storage to tide them over.

Seriously if you believe this project will happen, then we are in the same boat, if you believe it will not happen (then why the heck are you here) time it to precious

Yet he has signed off on drilling more wells for Gas, maybe gas is the new renewable energy, coal closely following 😂

W2ncy

For the scale of this project, once confirmation has been given to the contractor “power China”, one would expected there to be at least 16 weeks lead time to mobilise the plant and equipment. Assuming the design has been implemented of course.

But the spanner in the time frame would be negotiating the land purchases and legal notifications (anything up to 26 weeks) then 2 years of overburdening to remove, store and sell to reach the coal.

Also would depend on how much the government are willing to assist with the land deals and dig permits etc.

So in short the statement of 2 years to reach the coal if achievable with the right team / crews

They want the witch back to face trial

The interim government will seek extradition of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who took shelter in India after the fall of the Awami League government through a students-led mass upsurge on August 5, Law Adviser Asif Nazrul said today.

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/crime-justice/news/govt-seek-extradition-hasina-3707231

Looks like someone is still picking a few shares up at these low prices, 2 more 330k buys into the close of the day, just wish I had further funds available to do the same,

RANGPUR, Sept 17, 2024 (BSS) – BNP Standing Committee Member Major (retd) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed today called for holding general elections at the earliest possible time.

"I think the general election should be held quickly, by bringing in state reforms, to help the country move forward," he said at a brief rally on Rangpur Collectorate premises as the chief guest before holding a procession marking the International Democracy Day.

The war is not over yet, he said, adding, democracy will be restored only if people can exercise their voting rights in a free and fair environment.

https://www.bssnews.net/news/210228

BNP applying some pressure

People's political empowerment can be ensured through establishing people's voting rights by holding a free, fair and neutral election, he said.

Tarique Rahman called upon the government to take priority based measures for the reformation of the Election Commission and public administration as well as building law enforcement agencies as efficient forces.

Noting that the interim government has already taken some reform initiatives, the BNP acting chairman said if the interim government cannot fix priorities in view of agenda setting, the clique of conspirators can take various advantages to frustrate the success of the mass upsurge.

Evidences of such conspiracies have already become visible, he added.

Tarique Rahman said the manner of this mass uprising is different from any other previous mass-uprising as the people were confined into the shackle of subjugation losing all democratic and human rights during the illegal regime of the ousted autocrat.

The country was also on the verge of losing its independence and sovereignty, he added.

https://www.bssnews.net/news-flash/210215

So no new Party to be formed, over to the BNP

Interim government's Youth and Sports Ministry Adviser Asif Mahmud today ruled out the rumours of forming a new political party under the banner of Anti-Discrimination Student Movement.

"Many want to hear from us about the rumours or talks about forming a political party. We have made it clear before that we have no intention of forming any political party right now," he said while talking to journalists after inaugurating National Occupational Safety and Health Training and Research Institute at Terokhadia area in Rajshahi city this afternoon, reports our Rajshahi staff correspondent.

Google News LinkFor all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.

Asif Mahmud said all of those who are in the interim government have other professions and want to return to that.

"The people of the country, through a mass uprising, gave responsibility to this interim government. Our goal is to hand over the power to a democratic government through an election, reflecting the people's hopes and aspirations," he said.

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/politics/news/asif-rules-out-rumours-new-party-3705136

Will he finally admit the power sector is in a mess, and acknowledge the use of own coal will help the country out of the situation and improve the economy and dollar position.

Interim government’s Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus will address the nation at 7:30pm on Wednesday, according to his press wing.

FE

This address is going to be his third speech to the nation since his appointment as the chief adviser to the interim government.

Bangladesh Television, BTV World and BTV Chittagong are likely to broadcast his speech.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/national/chief-adviser-prof-yunus-to-address-the-nation-this-evening

The countrymen have been suffering severe load shedding due to a shortage of fuel at different power plants.

The current demand for electricity in the country is around 16,000MW against a production capacity of 27,791MW. However, the local power plants have been struggling to produce electricity amid a severe fuel crisis, sources at the Power Division said.

People in villages have been suffering around 8-10 hours of load shedding per day, while the Dhaka dwellers have been experiencing frequent disruptions to the electricity supply for the last couple of days, said sources.

The Power Development Board (PDB) carried out around 2,000MW load shedding on Monday. PDB officials said production of around 1,000MW of electricity by gas-based power plants was disrupted as the supply of natural gas from Summit’s LNG terminal has remained halted for over three months now.

https://www.daily-sun.com/post/766518

The previous Awami League government constructed power plants one after another without ensuring a steady fuel supply and demand was also not taken into account either.

As a result, these power plants had to be kept idle for long periods every year. However, capacity charge has to be paid for these idle plants. To manage costs, electricity prices for consumers increased, and the government's liability also shot up.

https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/nog055lw64

The rest of the article

At least 4,093MW is sitting idle due to a shortage in gas supply, according to PDB data.

The country has a total of 11,428MW installed capacity from gas sources.

At least 25 gas-fired power plants have been shut since May 27 when cyclone Remal hit the coastal areas.

The cyclone damaged one of the country's two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), which brought down the LNG regasification capacity to 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from 1,100 mmcfd.

The FSRU tried to resume operations several times but failed.

It is now slated to resume operations from September 15, as per the recent announcement of Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, the adviser to the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources.

Then the PDB's highest single power producer, the 1,496MW Adani Godda power plant located in India's Jharkhand, is producing around 1,000MW of electricity.

Recently, they have sent letters to the ministry, the Bangladesh Bank and the chief adviser of the interim government to clear their eight months' outstanding bills amounting to $800 million dues.

"We are forced to inform you that the Godda plant is struggling hard to sustain its operations on account of running expenses towards procurement of coal, debt service obligations, operation and maintenance," said a PDB official quoted the letter as saying.

The Matarbari power plant is also producing less than its capacity due to coal shortage, while one of the two units of Chattogram's SS power plant is under maintenance.

At present, about 2,300MW -- or one-third of the total coal power capacity of 6,604MW -- remains idle, according to data from PDB.

Furnace oil imports also faced a disruption due to the dollar crunch, according to PDB officials.

As of September 4, gross foreign exchange reserves stand at about $20.6 billion, enough to service about four months' import bill, according to data from the BB.

The country's total power generation capacity is 27,086MW.

Power cuts are getting more frequent as power generation has failed to keep up with the rising mercury.

For instance, the power generation shortfall hit nearly 2,000 megawatts (MW) yesterday -- the highest in recent weeks, according to data from the Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Google News LinkFor all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.

From this month, PDB has started generating up to 13,900 MW of electricity in a day against the highest demand of 16,200MW, which is much higher than the previous month's average. Last month, the demand was 14,000MW to 14,500MW.

The temperature in Dhaka rose to 35.5 degrees Celsius yesterday, up from 31.4 degrees on September 3, as per the PDB data.

Rajshahi, Rangpur, Cumilla, Mymensingh and Sylhet areas are mostly affected by power cuts, the PDB data shows.

Frequent power cuts started in the last three to four days, said Rafiul Islam, a resident of the Sambhuganj area of Mymensingh.

"It's unbearable amid the sweltering heat."

The situation stays normal from midnight to 7 in the morning and then the power goes out in one to two-hour intervals throughout the day, Islam said.

A businessman who ran a steel workshop in Biswas Para in Joypurhat, said they need to take a break for at least an hour every couple of hours. "Sometimes, the power is gone for three to four hours," he added.

PDB officials are pinning the blame for frequent power cuts on insufficient electricity generation by the coal-based power plants due to various technical issues. Gas shortage, too, has become a regular scenario.

At least 10,000MW of generation capacity is sitting idle due to fuel shortage or maintenance: 6,300MW for fuel shortage and 3,600MW for maintenance.

Compared to last month, idle power capacity due to fuel shortage has increased further.

At least 4,093MW is sitting idle due to a shortage in gas supply, according to PDB data.

The country has a total of 11,428MW installed capacity from gas sources.

At least 25 gas-fired power plants have been shut since May 27 when cyclone Remal hit the coastal areas.

The cyclone damaged one of the country's two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), which brought down the LNG regasification capacity to 600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from 1,100 mmcfd.

The FSRU tried to resume operations several times but failed.

It is now slated to resume operations from September 15, as per the recent announcement of Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, the adviser to the ministry of power, energy and mineral resources.

Then the PDB's highest single power producer, the 1,496MW Adani Godda power plant located in India's Jharkhand, is producing around 1,000MW of electricity.

Recently, they have sent letters to the ministry, the Bangladesh Bank and the chief adviser of the interim government to clear their eight months' outstanding bills amounting to $800 million dues.

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/po

Well found article Digit4lis, and thanks for sharing.

The following piece of the article says it all:

Coal didn't decline, its consumption has been rising over the last decade. Only our policymakers used the "environmental" argument to cripple the economy while rest of Asia was galloping ahead to use coal for spurring their economies. The second argument on international coal prices is that the demand has reduced over the last decade. But as stated before, global economic giants in Asia like China (followed by India) were in a competition to lock future outputs of major coal producing nations years in advance. How could an emerging economy like Bangladesh ever hope to compete at that level?

Our needs were a pittance compared to those countries. Why would any major seller even bother with our demands? It should be noted here that both high and low quality have been used in both these countries. Yes, there has been environmental fall-out, but it was deemed a national priority in both China and India to develop their economies first and invest in cleaner coal technologies to mitigate some of the environmental fallouts. Without strong economies, policymakers in those countries could not lift millions of people out of poverty and jobs would not be generated without cheap power.

Chief Adviser to the interim government Dr Muhammad Yunus will exchange views with political parties from 3pm to 8pm on Saturday.

FE

The Chief Adviser’s Press Wing announced this in a press release on Thursday.

Sources say the meeting will focus on the overall situation of the country, including reforms and the upcoming election.

However, as before, no one from the Awami League will attend the views exchange meeting.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Yunus held a meeting with a three-member BNP delegation, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Various issues were discussed during the meeting.

Afterward, Mirza Fakhrul said, “The Chief Adviser invited us for discussion. The discussion lasted around one hour and 15 minutes. It was fruitful.”

Asked whether any potential date for election came up for discussion, he said, “We have not discussed any election date. We will not give any date. They will give it.”

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/national/chief-adviser-to-exchange-views-with-political-parties-saturday

Dodgy deals are all coming out now

Adviser for Power and Energy, and Road Transport and Bridges Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan has condemned widespread corruption and irregularities in the power and energy sector.

FE

Speaking to the media after a meeting with senior officials at Petrobangla's headquarters in the city on Wednesday, Khan expressed grave concerns about the pervasive nature of corruption.

“Wherever I look, I see evidence of irregularities and corruption,” Khan said.

The adviser warned the officials to rid themselves of corrupt practices and emphasised that stern actions would be taken against those involved in such activities.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade/corruption-and-irregularities-permeate-power-and-energy-sector-says-adviser

THE rental and quick rental power plants that have reared the ugly head since 2009 riding an indemnity law that the now deposed Awami League enacted to plunder the power and energy sector have now run to a constraining pass, warranting an immediate government action. While the law — the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply Act 2010 the tenure of which has been extended in phases until 2026 — has all along safeguarded actors and their action in the sector by keeping them above the customary law, what happened under the protection of the law has had two major implications of creating a situation to increase power bills and giving more subsidy in the sector. Rental power plants have also become expensive because of the use of expensive diesel and furnace oil and the capacity charge entitlements laid out in the power purchase agreements by way of which the government pays the plants for the installed power capacity that the plants do not produce. Heavy fuel oils were four times more expensive than gas and 37 per cent more expensive than coal in producing a unit of electricity in 2023. The average power generation cost in oil-fired plants was about Tk 23 a unit against the average power system cost of Tk 11.5 a unit. Some oil-fired plants even spent Tk 40 on producing a unit of electricity.

https://www.newagebd.net/post/editorial/243705/govt-must-do-away-with-burden-of-power-overcapacity

Sorry if posted already,

ON AUGUST 26, the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power, and Port commemorated the lives lost in the movement against an open-pit coal mine in Phulbari, Dinajpur, and expressed their sheer frustration at successive governments’ indifference towards the full implementation of the Phulbari Agreement. Defying public opposition, the government gave a license to a UK-based company, Asia Energy, to extract coal from the area, which prompted a huge protest in August 2006. Local farmers and indigenous communities protested against the coal mine, as the extraction activities would threaten their livelihood and displace them from their ancestral land. Police violence took the lives of three protesters but failed to quell the protest. In the face of national and international protests, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led government agreed to stop mining activities in the area. The Awami League, the then-parliamentary opposition, also visited the area and publicly announced that it would ensure full implementation of the agreement when in power. None of the two parties that had been in power since the signing of the agreement has taken any decisive steps in this regard. Nearly two decades later, shockingly, the agreement remained an ineffectual piece of document and nothing more than that.

https://www.newagebd.net/post/editorial/243609/full-implementation-of-phulbari-agreement-a-must

This document will outline strategic recommendations aimed at stabilising the economy, achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and addressing the challenges faced by Bangladesh as it transitions from the least developed country (LDC) status.

The white paper will focus on several key areas:

Public Finance Management: Examining domestic resource collection, public expenditure including investments and subsidies, and budget deficit financing.

Inflation and Food Management: Assessing production, public procurement, and food distribution mechanisms.

External Balance: Evaluating factors such as export and import dynamics, remittance flows, foreign direct investment, foreign exchange reserves, and external debt.

Energy and Power: Analysing demand, supply, pricing, costs, and procurement agreements in the energy sector.

https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/10-member-panel-appointed-to-draft-white-paper-on-bangladeshs-economy