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State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Anindya Islam Amit has said the government is making its utmost efforts to address the ongoing severe electricity and gas shortages.
He said gas could not be unloaded from cargo vessels due to adverse maritime conditions caused by natural disasters.
The state minister said normal supply would not be possible until weather conditions return to normal. However, he expressed hope that the electricity situation could improve somewhat from Wednesday (August 12) evening as a result of special measures taken by the government.
He made the remarks while speaking to journalists at the Secretariat on Wednesday. He also apologised on behalf of the government for the inconvenience caused to people.
Amit said LNG cargo unloading at Summit’s LNG terminal had been completely suspended as the Bay of Bengal remained extremely rough. Meanwhile, the Excelerate terminal is currently operating at only partial capacity.
He said restoring the terminal to full capacity would require shutting it down again for at least 72 hours, which is a major challenge at the moment.
“We are discussing with senior officials of Excelerate Energy how to minimise public suffering. We are also taking suggestions from business leaders,” Amit said.
Blaming a lack of long-term planning by previous governments for the current crisis, the state minister said successive administrations had focused on short-term measures rather than pursuing lasting solutions.
As a result, he said, the country was bound to face such a structural crisis, which has unfortunately emerged during the peak summer season.
