Cancelling energy sector deals not so easy: Rizwana

Environment, forest and climate change adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan said it is easy to intend to rescind the energy sector deals but it is very expensive in reality.

Cancelling the deals are not so easy. Bangladesh had to resort to international arbitration to cancel the Niko agreement. Yet, the interim government has taken up the challenge and a discussion is ongoing related to the agreements.  

Rizwana made the comment while addressing the second energy conference on ‘Bangladesh energy prosperity 2050’. The three-day long conference has been inaugurated at BIAM Auditorium in Dhaka today, Wednesday. Bangladesh Working Group on Ecology and Development (BDGED) has organised the conference.

Rizwana said some speakers addressed the issue of some agreements or projects undertaken by the previous government. There were criticisms regarding these since the beginning. Bangladesh is already burdened with loans of some of the projects that have already been completed.

The government has to bear the brunt of unequal agreements taken with high cost. The government is grappling with ‘damage control’, she added.

M Tamim, a special assistant to a former chief adviser, also spoke on the reality of cancelling the agreements of the energy sector.

He said as per an agreement Bangladesh will have to pay USD 8-12 billion to cancel one project. Many agreements are long-term. If Bangladesh tries to terminate those deals before the end of the term, there are legal problems and financial penalties.

Tamim said there were no realistic plans for the energy sector, thus any transformation entails careful planning.

Emphasis has to be given on skill development and savings, he added.

BWGED’s member secretary Hasan Mehedi delivered a welcome speech while Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network’s capacity building adviser Benazir Ahmed and Eden College’s professor Fahmida Haque conducted the programme.