Cost of doing business will go higher
The rationing of electricity will hamper industrial production, as the industry is already facing a shortage of gas.
If quality power supply decreases, that might take a toll on industries as it will increase the cost of doing business.
The government may ensure quality supply of energy for industries aiming to minimise the cost of production.
In the textile industry, if we have to shut units for once, that causes all raw materials to be ruined in the process.
The industry has no capacity to adopt this additional cost, as the raw materials price has already been hiked 40%.
This will affect the price of products and in turn take a toll on the garment industry as their raw materials price will increase further. That will hit our competitive advantage in the country.
VAT on solar panels also hurts its uses, although those have the potential to be another alternative source of renewable energy.
As per an independent estimation, Bangladesh has potential to produce up to 32,000 megawatts from solar systems.
Also, major usage of gas is in the boiler units for textiles mainly. Solar option is not viable for this as heavy large capacity boilers cannot run using solar.
Previously the prime minister had encouraged the use of step-down power from the national grid. But the quality of electricity is not good enough for industrial use on a large scale as it is prone to fluctuations which results in damage to machinery. If it was of good quality then reliance on gas and LNG would have come down in industrial units.
Shams Mahmud is the managing director of Shasha Denims Ltd
