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Industrial unit owners of different sectors have demanded that the government provide them immunity from blackouts or load shedding
They also expressed relief at production remaining nearly unhurt yesterday, the first day of planned power cuts, just as the government had promised to ensure.
Mohammad Ali Khokon, president of Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, said the primary textile sector did not feel any impact.
“We will be able to understand the impacts after a few days as we have just opened our mills after the Eid holidays,” he said.
This was echoed by Mohammad Hatem, executive president of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
Mohammed Amirul Haque, managing director at Premier Cement Mills, said if industries suffered power cuts, the country’s $50 billion-worth export earnings would face the same fate.
“So, the industries should be kept immune to load shedding at any cost,” he said.
He said manufacturing plants of some industries—of cement, glass, dyeing and ceramics – have to run for several days uninterrupted for their vast and complex process and any power cut could severely affect production.
“Had we known that the country’s electricity generation is so much dependent on diesel, we would have developed dedicated captive power plants for factories,” he said.
Aameir Alihussain, managing director of Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills, said the extent of power cuts has reduced over the last three to four days.
But the steelmakers cannot run at fully capacity during peak hours, he said, adding that this affects overall production by around 20 per cent.
“But we have to accept this for the country. This (load shedding) is the right decision from the government as continuous adjustment of fuel prices will increase cost of business and inflation,” he said.
“This will slow down the economic activities but we will not be Sri Lanka,” he said.
“Load shedding will directly affect production in factories. Not only production, there will be an impact on the overall business” said Saiful Islam, president of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“If load shedding is not taken up as a temporary measure, it will have an effect on businesses as well as livelihoods. Especially on those who are exporters,” Islam said.
“Load shedding even for a minute in any of our industrial areas, it is a huge loss for us,” said an official of a leading company in the tiles sector on condition of anonymity.
Khurshid Ahmad Farhad, general manager of Bombay Sweets, said electricity fluctuations cause damage to production.
(TDS)
