Electricity deal with Adani Group ‘unnecessary and unfair’: Fakhrul
Not the Ukraine war but corruption and mismanagement responsible for ongoing economic crisis, he said
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has termed the power purchase agreement with India's Adani Group "unnecessary and unfair".
Mirza Fakhrul yesterday came down heavily on the Awami League government for making the power purchase deal, which "goes against the interests of the state and the people".
Under this agreement, Bangladesh will buy Adani's electricity at a price five times higher than the price of the country's wholesale electricity market, he said at a press conference at the political office of the party chairperson in Gulshan on Tuesday.
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"Bangladesh will have to pay about $450 million a year as capacity charge to Adani even if it does not produce any electricity. About $12 billion [approx Tk1.26 lakh crore] will have to be paid in the next 25 years," Fakhrul said, adding that along with stock manipulation, it seems that the Adani Group has started coal price manipulation that will drive up the power price significantly.
This power agreement is completely unnecessary and unfair, he told reporters.
This government has signed numerous financial deals in the past 12 years to gratify a particular group, the adverse effects of which are now being borne by the people, the BNP leader said.
Bangladesh is all set to begin electricity import from Adani's Godda thermal power plant in a week, despite the Indian power company quoting an abnormally high price for imported coal which will be used to generate electricity in its plant.
Earlier in the day, Mirza Fakhrul paid homage to BNP founder Ziaur Rahman at the capital's Chandrima Udyan on the occasion of the formation of the full committee of the party's youth wing Jubo Dal.
Mentioning that the country is facing a great disaster, Mirza Fakhrul said there is no sign of the ongoing economic crisis in Bangladesh easing soon; rather it is intensifying.
Intolerable inflation, unprecedented dollar crisis, devaluation of the taka, banking and financial mismanagement, wrong policies, rampant corruption, money laundering, lack of good governance and, above all, a lack of democracy are the major causes of the current economic anarchy, he said.
The government has come out of its usual "Denial Syndrome" and admitted the economic crisis to the IMF in order to take loans on hard terms, he said, adding: "The loan would not have been needed if money laundering had been stopped."
"There is just a 'shortage' of various things in the country now, but not for the 'new-rich' who are blessed and benefited by the government," the BNP leader said.
"The government has shamelessly established crony capitalism and oligarchy in this country and they are collectively sucking the blood of the common people," he said.
Mentioning that the people should not suffer for the conditions of the IMF loan to be met, Mirza Fakhrul said, "After fertiliser, fuel oil prices were hiked to meet IMF conditions. Needless to say, how much the sufferings of the people have increased due to the price hike of electricity and gas."
Reducing overnight subsidies against essential commodities, including fertiliser, food and fuel, will only increase public suffering, the BNP leader said, adding that the tax-GDP ratio needs to be increased but the tax burden should not be passed on to the common man.
The government blames the Russia-Ukraine war and global issues for Bangladesh's economic crisis, which is not true, he said. "It is not the Ukraine war but the government's rampant corruption and overall economic mismanagement that are responsible for this disaster."
Reforms in taxation, the financial sector, the banking sector, budget management and trade policy are essential for macroeconomic stability, Fakhrul said.
The current economic and political crises in the country have now turned into a national crisis, the BNP leader said.
"To overcome it, national unity must be forged regardless of religion, caste, and political differences in order to remove this illegal government from power. All must come forward to form a mass movement to realise the 10-point demands announced by the BNP," Mirza Fakhrul added.
