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Impossible to remove energy subsidy

Staff Correspondent
28 Mar 2023 00:00:00 | Update: 27 Mar 2023 23:01:29
Impossible to remove energy subsidy

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid has said that it is not possible to completely remove the energy sector subsidies.

There are 1.2 million diesel pumps in the country. If the government removes subsidy, then agriculture products’ costs will increase, he claimed while speaking at an MoU signing ceremony on Monday.

The MoU, regarding ‘’Cooperation in Energy Research and Capacity Building’,’ was signed between Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET) and the Hydrocarbon Unit of Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD), at BUET in Dhaka.

Nasrul said that due to Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war, the role of the energy economy is regularly getting bigger but the availability of qualified manpower in the energy and power sector has become a major challenge.

He said many countries are exploring hydrogen energy nowadays while many who have been talking about renewable energy are returning to fossil fuels.

Research on the energy sector has to be done carefully and Hydrocarbon Unit can do that, he added.

The state minister said that previously, their challenge was to see how fast they set up the baseload power plants and now it’s starting electricity generation at the plants.

The situation will get far better after Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant kicks off power generation.

EMRD Secretary Khairuzzaman Mozumder, BUET Vice-Chancellor Satya Prasad Majumder, Petrobangla Chairman Janendranath Sarkar and other officials concerned were also present at the event.

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