Page 14 - AsiaElec Week 19 2022

AsiaElec CLIMATE AsiaElec

Pakistan, Bangladesh cope with

severe heat and fuel shortages

PAKISTAN THE extreme weather event occurring in recent “The load-shedding in the country is due to
weeks in the Indian subcontinent is creating a [the] gross mismanagement and incompetence
worrisome situation as early summer temper- of the previous government,” Prime Minister
atures are leading to concerns about the stress Sherif told the National Assembly. Pakistan is
being placed on power generation stations facing a bankrupt economy, high inflation, ris-
as demand for more electricity is expected to ing fuel prices and government debt. Last week,
increase as summer arrives. Not only is gen- Pakistanis were experiencing power outages last-
eration capacity cause for concern but also the ing up to 14 hours per day.
ability of Pakistan and Bangladesh to secure fuel On top of this, the new government is argu-
supplies to power their stations. This circum- ing that it is not possible to remove government
stance has been complicated by the fact that subsidies for fuels due to the difficulties this will
the region has also been marking the month of create for the country’s citizens.
Ramadan. The circumstances in Bangladesh are hardly
Pakistan has resorted to load-shedding in any better. For a time, the government in Dhaka
order to cope with a loss of some 7,900 MW in had thought to ask factories to refrain from using
the midst of soaring temperatures. Speaking to gas from 5 pm to 9 pm from mid-April until the
reporters during his first press conference in late end of Ramadan in order to conserve supplies for
April, Federal Minister for Power Khurram Das- power generation.
tgir Khan said the power sector’s circular debt Gas supplies were suspended in parts of the
stands at around INR2.46 trillion ($13.2bn) and capital for 48 hours on May 3. The reason given
that 5,740 MW of power is out because of a lack was for maintenance to be carried out on two
of fuel, including LNG, coal and oil. He said high-pressure pipelines.
another 2,156 MW was out of service due to a Bangladesh has for weeks now been suffering
lack of maintenance and repair. from what has been described as a ‘gas drought’,
Khan said the power companies require pay- much of it caused by outages related to produc-
ments amounting to INR329bn ($1.8bn) in the tion disruptions at the offshore Bibiyana gas
coming weeks in order to avoiding load-shed- field. The shortages have prompted the country’s
ding. Meanwhile, the international prices for garment manufacturers and exporters associa-
fuels have erupted due to the Russian invasion tion to urge the government to cut all illegal gas
of Ukraine. connections within Bangladesh. Gas outages
Khan, along with new Prime Minister She- and shortages have forced some garment facto-
hbaz Sherif, who in April replaced the ousted ries to stop production.
Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i- Meanwhile, the government in Dhaka is
Insaf (PTI), put the blame on the PTI govern- debating how it might go about cutting subsidies
ment for failing to line up cargoes of LNG when for electricity.™
prices were historically low.

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 19 11•May•2022