The Dimension of Power Accessibility and Rural People in Bangladesh: a Study in Savar Rural Area
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by DSpace at Waseda University The Dimension of Power Accessibility and Rural people in Bangladesh: A study in Savar Rural Area Mirza Naveed Jitu, Tania Hossain and Md Taufiqul Islam Abstract th At the beginning of the 21 century like many other developing countries Bangladesh is also facing many challenges, and one such challenges that the country is thriving to cope with its electricity problem. For its population of about 170 million, it has become a great challenge to produce and supply electricity for everyone, no matter whether in rural areas or urban. The present study is an attempt to find out the dimensions of power accessibility for rural people in Bangladesh. It tends to light up the area problems for rural electricity users along with their satisfaction level regarding price, accessibility, availability, service, demand fulfillment, and fee. To do so, the study picks up Savar area as the sample location of the whole rural Bangladesh. The following two methods were taken to answer the research questions:( a) A field Survey using Simple random sampling method has been used for data collection from the head of the family of every other holding in the Nabinagar village of Savar district, Dhaka, Bangladesh from a sample of 100 and( b) historical document analysis. The collected interview data were properly coded and qualitative data were converted into quantitative forms by means of suitable scoring 二二一whenever necessary. Results indicated that the supply and services including billing system of Palli Bidyut have been found in satisfactory level and people are increasingly getting satisfied with performance of power supply. It also shows that average income of the people is quite compatible with the electricity price in that area. But it clearly indicates that the demand has yet to be fulfilled and people encourage more 10 The Dimension of Power Accessibility and Rural people in Bangladesh electricity production to meet up the demand. The survey also shows corruption is one of the major issues of getting new connection and insufficient electricity supplies are the main reasons behind the low accessibility of the rural areas. This research addresses that it is time to focus the incidents like system loss, power theft and also corruption if Bangladesh wants to progress in ensuring power security to all its inhabitants before it’s too late. Therefore, proper monitoring and imposition of strict laws are needed without any delay to deal with power anomalies. The Dimension of Power Accessibility and Rural people in Bangladesh: A study in Savar Rural Area Bangladesh, which is a developing country in South Asia, has managed to cope up with the recent world economic recessions and has maintained its economic growth better than many other similar nations. As it is being thriving for economic progress, Bangladesh needs to ensure uninterrupted electricity to its people, majority of who are village dwellers. Thus supply of electricity, no matter in urban or rural areas, has always been a major concern and also a challenge for the country. Electircity sdupply is pretty much constant in urban areas because of better infratructural priviledges while the rural areas often suffers intermittent flow if electricity. However, it is a fact that the rural people also deserve 24/7 electricity supply because they share the lions portion of the total population of the country, and also because of the reality that Bangladesh is still an agriculture based country. Still, unfortunately enough, the rural people are the most neglected population of the country in terms of having uninterrupted supply of electricity. The accessibility to electricity and the constraints to access have become an urgent issue to be addressed nowadays. Though is undeniable that most of the industries are located in the city or Export Processing Zone( EPZ), and accessibility to electricity is a must for the inhabitants of these regions, agricultural purposes like irrigation also requires electricity, and therefore, the rural people need electricity as anyone of the ccountry. Besides, if the country wants to reduce dependency from agriculture 二二〇 based production to industrialized production; it needs to ensure power supply in each and evey corner of its land area. Electricity is also a very primary requirement to achieve progress in social parameters like education and health. The future generation needs access already for them to grow in a society where they can use any equipment and utilize them for their self and community development. So 11 reaching the majority of the people to provide electricity is a very important issue for the future of the nation. Background Since the times of the Mughal Empire, the region has been thriving for development of infrastructure and strength through buinding architectural monuments, healthcare development and disciplined life style. But in this modern era it has become almost impossible to develop lifestyle and move forward whether in individual or national level without access to electricity. Bangladesh has been starving for electricity to meet up with its development pace of 5.5% to 7.0%. However, unfortunately enough, the country has not been able to ensure electricity for all therefore erratic power supply still remains a great concern among the masses. As a result, the natural pace of development of every sector, economic and social, is [1] hampered due to shortage of electricity . Electricity production in Bangladesh started in 1901 when a private generator was installed at the residence of the then Nawab of Dhaka. Mr. Bolton, British citizen, switched on the first electricity in Ahsan Monjil on 7 December 1901. Electricity distribution system under private ownership began by DEVCO, a subsidiary of Octttavian Steel Company in the 1930s and Dhanmondi power house [1] was setup for commercial distribution of power . In 1947, power generation and distribution of this part of the country were in the hands of some private companies. The power supply to then 17 provincial districts was within the township in a limited way. In 1948, Electricity Directorate was created in order to plan and improve power supply situation. In 1959, Water and Power Development Authority( WAP DA) was created and the power sector really started working satisfactorily. In 1960, Electricity Directorate was merged with WAPDA. The basic philosophy was to give more autonomy to an organization [1] for development of this basic infrastructure . At that time(1960) relatively higher capacity plants were built at Siddhirganj, Chittagong and Khulna( highest plant size was only 10 MW Steam Turbine at 二一九 Siddirganj). At the same time, Kaptai dam was under construction under Irrigation department. Unit size of Kaptai was 40 MW, which for that time was considered to be a large power plant. Side by side construction of Dhaka-Chittagong 132 KV transmission line was in progress. Construction of Kaptai dam and commissioning of Dhaka-Chittagong 132 KV transmission line in the year 1962 may be taken as 12 The Dimension of Power Accessibility and Rural people in Bangladesh [1] milestone of power development of this country . In 1972, Bangladesh Power Development Board( BPDB) was created to boost the power sector. A different approach and a new model were considered for undertaking a comprehensive scheme. Thus the Government created Rural Electrification Board( REB) in October 1977. Later in 1991 Dhaka Electric Supply Authority( DESA) was created basically to operate and develop distribution system in and around Dhaka( including the metropolitan city) and bring about improvement of customer service, collection of revenue and lessen the [1] administrative burden of BPDB . BPDB is a key stakeholder in the power sector of Bangladesh, being responsible for generation and transmission of electricity in the country and distribution of electricity in the urban areas except the Metropolitan City of Dhaka. The installed generation capacity has increased to about 3,700 MW( as of June [2] 2000) from a meager 88 MW in 1960 . Electricity generation grew at about 7% p.a. during last ten years, compared with average annual GDP growth rate of about 5.5%. Notwithstanding the progress made to date, Bangladesh’s per capita electricity generation of 120 kWh p.a. is still among the lowest in the world. About 20% of the population has access to electricity, which is also low compared to many developing countries. The Government has already opened the power sector for private investment and “The Private Sector Power Generation Policy” has been formulated in 1996. The Government is also committed to reforms of the power sector for achieving [2] efficiency of the sector . Bangladesh has experienced sustained growth in recent years, but is facing widening deficits in the provision of electricity and other infrastructure services, as demand for them grows at a faster rate than investments. In 2012, the country ranked 134th out of 144 countries on the quality of electricity supply, which is seen as one of the most problematic obstacles to doing business in Bangladesh. The [3] Government has targeted universal access to electricity by the year 2021 . The Government’s plans for addressing the generation shortages and to 二一八 increase access to electricity call for energy conservation, load management, adopting grid and off-grid electrification approaches to extend electricity services, promoting private sector investment in short and longer-term power supply [3] measures, and improving sector governance and efficiency . Since energy plays an important role in socio-economic development, the 13 Government of Bangladesh is giving priority in overall development of the energy sector. About 20% of the total public sector investment was owed for the energy sector development during the last one decade. The primary energy source is natural gas and the electricity generation significantly relies on natural gas in Bangladesh.