Dec 9, 2025
| Staff Correspondent
The major barrier to renewable energy expansion is the people in the power and energy sector themselves, said Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, power, energy and mineral resources adviser.
Many government officials in the sector have engaged with businesses and would lose their transactional benefits if a transparent and competitive system is introduced, he said.
"We are trying to transition from such a system and it is not being liked by most of them. They want to continue the previous system of dealings, negotiations and under-the-table transactions," he said at the closing ceremony of Bangladesh Energy Conference 2025 yesterday.
The adviser said they also want to get rid of fossil fuel usage but their dependence is by compulsion and not by choice. "If we had the opportunity, we would stop purchasing LNG (liquified natural gas) and would shut down the coal-based power plants," he added.
The conference has announced a 22-point Dhaka Declaration towards Net Zero carbon emission and a 13-point Citizen Manifesto.
Hasan Mehedi, member secretary of the Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development, read out the Dhaka Declaration. The declaration demanded that the national target on renewable energy installation is reset to 30 percent by 2030 and 40 percent by 2041 -- which the government recently decreased.
The Bangladesh Energy Conference demanded the cancellation of the existing master plan on Matarbari-Moheshkhali Development initiatives and the formation of a fresh one that would protect the environment of those areas. The conference also demanded at least 40 percent of national expenditure in the power sector on renewable energy, scaling back on LNG imports and forfeiting plans to install any further LNG terminals.
The declaration demanded the cancellation of any new fossil fuel-based power plant's approval up to 2035, cut import duty on all sorts of renewable products and initiate small-scale solar home systems projects. The declaration thanked the interim government for the new renewable energy policy, merchant power policy, tender for 5,238MW of renewable energy and initiation of 3,000MW rooftop solar systems.
Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jalal Ahmed differed on the demand of not approving a new LNG terminal, saying if the government decides to install a terminal, it will take at least two years to procure and another two years to install. "We are already using the full capacity of the existing two terminals. The demand would increase in future if we want to keep our industrial production stable and we would need more gas," he said.
In a separate session, the organisers have presented a Citizens' Manifesto where the representatives from different political parties also pledged to ensure energy transition. Energy transition is no longer a theoretical concept; it has become a fundamental political and existential question for the nation, said Moazzam Hossain Alal, adviser to the BNP chairperson. "There is no alternative to national consensus on reducing the abuse of natural resources," he said.
It is now imperative to implement strong reforms and establish a special tribunal to hold the perpetrators accountable in the power sector, said Hasnat Qayyum, president of Rastro Songskar Andolon. Representatives of the National Citizen Party, Ganasanghati Andolon, the Communist Party of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Socialist Party also joined the discussion.
News Link: Power sector officials resistant to renewable expansion