The finance minister hinted at a further hike in natural gas tariffs from next year when the country will go for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG).
 "Gas will be purchased at international prices when its import begins in 2018. Consequently, the unit price of gas will undoubtedly increase," said AMA Muhith while placing in parliament Thursday the next national budget worth Tk 4.0 trillion, wherein energy has got a big slice of the cake.
The minister did not say anything about the extent of the gas-price raise but said, "The gas price, however, will be adjusted by following the policy of subsidizing."  
The current rates of taxes levied on gas, therefore, have to be rationalised, he said.
Mr Muhith in his budget speech also opined for continuation of the much-talked-about rental power plants at least for one more year.
"Dependence on rental power plants will be gradually reduced from 2018 onwards when a comfortable power-supply situation can be ensured," he told the House.
The rental power plants, however, were meant for operating on rental basis for a certain period, within the range from three to five years, to meet exigencies.
But their tenure has been extended to keep them operational after the expiry of their initial tenure to continue in electricity generation.
The country's overall electricity generation has now reached 15,379 megawatts (MW), which was 4,942 MWs in 2009, he said.
System loss has been reduced to 9.3 percent from 15.6 percent during the period.
Thirty-three power plants having an aggregate capacity of 11,214 MWs are under construction, he said, adding: "We plan to install 42 more power plants with a capacity of 11,124 MWs."
The minister in his speech hoped to supply gas to all industrial units by the end of 2018.
In the proposed budget for FY '18 the allocation for power and energy sector is Tk 211.18 billion, which is 5.28 per cent of the total outlay and 31.29 per cent higher than the revised allocation of Tk 145.61 billion for the current FY'17.
The development allocation in power and energy sector for the next FY is Tk 209.56 billion, which is 13.7 per cent of the total allocations for the Annual Development Programme (ADP).
For power sector, the allocation for FY'18 in the ADP is Tk 188.45 billion, 40.41 per cent higher than the revised ADP allocation of Tk 134.21billion for the current fiscal.
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Source: The Financial Express