The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) has said, the hike of electricity and gas prices will be suicidal for the government when the post-pandemic economy started turning around.
Leaders of the top trade body in the country said, this is not the appropriate time to raise the price of electricity and gas. This initiative has been taken to embarrass the government.
During a press briefing at its Motijheel office in the capital on Saturday, FBCCI leaders said, whether or not the electricity and gas price would increase, the decision should be taken politically not bureaucratically.
FBCCI president Jashim Uddin presented the keynote paper of the press conference which was organised in view of the recent recommendation of Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) to increase electricity and gas prices. Alongside, BTMEA president Mohammed Ali Khokon, BGMEA vice-president Shahidullah Azim addressed the briefing among others.
“Quick rental was once necessary. Now, it is not worthy of necessary. Quick rental power stations should be shut down apart from incompetent stations. Gas-fired power stations are left inoperative. Instead of concentrating these matters government is planning to increase electricity and gas price. The industrial sector cannot pay the price for devising wrong plan,” Jashim Uddin said.
The government should refrain from hiking the price, radically reform the energy and power sector, sever illegal connection and reduce production cost by stemming additional power production, added he.
