Regional Planning Issues

Bangladesh lacks sufficient electricity generation capacity and electricity grid networks to electrify the whole nation and has never enjoyed 100% electrification. Currently, electricity generation per capita in Bangladesh is the lowest in the world, about 154 kWh/per year. There is a huge unmet commercial demand for energy as the shortfall of power generation capacity is estimated to be around 2500 MW for the next five years.A recent survey found only 32 percent of rural firms with access to electricity compared to 60 percent in urban areas. The Southern region, including Chittagong, accounts for another 20 percent. The rest is fairly evenly split among the western, northwestern, and central zones. Most generation plant, are also located close to Dhaka, with smaller plants near the gas fields or other load centers; approximately 70 percent of overall transmission capacity is in the Dhaka region. Most reasonable forecasts suggest that Bangladesh would need at least one utility-scale plant in the 500 to 700 MW range every year to catch up with demand. But efficient; incessant supply of electricity is an obligation for the balanced regional growth and development of Bangladesh.