State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Sunday said that it will take about 2 weeks to improve the power supply situation.
“We hope we can come out of the current extent of load shedding,” he told reporters at his office in the Power and Energy Ministry.
He admitted that the frequency of load shedding has gone up in recent days and said that currently, the authorities have to resort to 2,500 MW of load shedding to manage the situation.
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The state minister attributed the shortage in supply of fuel -- especially, gas, coal and liquid fuels -- in the power generation units to the current crisis.
“We have been trying for the last two months to arrange necessary fuel supply for the power plants. But it’s taking time to coordinate the opening of LC (letter of credit),” he said.
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He said his ministry has been trying to import coal for the Payra power plant as soon as possible.
He said the situation has become unbearable due to the ongoing heatwave.
Nasrul Hamid said some power plants are ready for generation. “But the issue of securing fuel is not always in our hands.”