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Published : 19 Apr 2026, 06:14 PM
The government has an outstanding bill to power plants worth Tk 523 billion, and the state must settle these dues to public, private, and international suppliers, Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku told parliament.
The minister provided the detailed breakdown of the debt during a question-and-answer session on Sunday, while also addressing allegations of fuel shortages and hoarding across the country.
In response to a query from BNP lawmaker SM Jahangir Hossain, he noted that as of Apr 9, the total amount the government needs to pay for public and private power plants, including imports, stands over Tk 523 billion.
The outstanding debt includes Tk 116.34 billion owed to Petrobangla for gas supplied to both public and private power plants.
Another Tk 38.91 billion is in arrears for electricity imported from India.
The government also owes Tk 173.57 billion to gas and oil-based independent power producers (IPPs) for capacity and fuel payments.
Furthermore, Tk 154.52 billion remains unpaid to joint ventures and coal-based IPPs for coal costs and capacity charges.
Finally, Tk 56.23 billion is outstanding for capacity and fuel payments to several public sector power companies.
Tuku also revealed that these power plants currently hold a combined bank debt of Tk 1.49 trillion.
He informed parliament that nearly Tk 2 billion is outstanding as wheeling charges.
Addressing concerns over fuel scarcity, the minister asserted that the country has sufficient stock, with supply levels in March 2026 matching those of the previous year.
"There is no genuine fuel crisis. A class of unscrupulous traders is creating an artificial crisis through illegal hoarding and black marketing," he said.
The government has conducted 9,116 mobile court raids, resulting in 3,510 cases and fines totalling Tk 15.6 million, he told parliament.
The government has also recovered 542,000 litres of hoarded fuel.
Referring to gas security, Tuku said Bangladesh has a remaining extractable reserve of 7.63 trillion cubic feet (TCF) as of Jan 1, 2026.
"If no new fields are discovered and the current daily supply of 1,700 million cubic feet continues, the remaining gas will last around 12 years," he warned.
He added that Petrobangla is working on a plan to drill 100 wells to bolster supply.
