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Published : 06 May 2025, 12:57 AM
Residents of Savar’s Ashulia have reported a sharp increase in load shedding, or rolling power outages, over the past few days, disrupting production across local industries, and adding to their discomfort during the ongoing heatwave.
On Monday afternoon, Shamim Sakhawat, general manager of Toha Textile in Kabirpur, said: “Load shedding has turned into a massive issue. The electricity has gone out four times already, each time for over an hour. Yesterday, it was even worse.”
Delowar Hossain, managing director of Kanchpur’s Needle Stitch Composite, described a similar situation.
Speaking over the phone around 6:30pm, he said, “Our factory experiences five to six power cuts every day. Each outage lasts between one to two hours. In fact, as I am speaking to you now, there is no electricity in the factory.”
Locals also reported frequent power cuts throughout both day and night in Savar and Ashulia, particularly as temperatures continue to rise.
Many believe the increased outages in these areas are due to the Rural Electrification Board now supplying electricity to factories within the Dhaka Export Processing Zone (DEPZ).
United Power Plant had been supplying electricity to DEPZ for several years. However, the plant stopped electricity production on Apr 29, following which Titas Gas disconnected the plant’s gas supply, resulting in a complete shutdown.
Since then, around 90 factories in DEPZ have been receiving electricity from the Rural Electrification Board.
Akhtaruzzaman Laskar, general manager of Dhaka Rural Electric Cooperative-1, said: “To supply 45 megawatts of electricity to DEPZ, we had to schedule load shedding on other consumers. We’ve requested an additional allocation of power. Once we receive 45 megawatts from the national grid, there will be no further issues.”
Local journalist Apu Khandakar said, “Load shedding has become so bad that we can’t even store meat or fish in the fridge. Sometimes the power goes out seven or eight times over a day and night.”
He said the situation has persisted since 29 April.
When contacted, two factories from the DEPZ declined to comment officially. Representatives said that electricity and supply are handled by BEPZA, and only they can speak on the issue.
Shariful Islam, executive director of BEPZA, said that once Titas Gas cut off United Power Plant’s gas supply, the plant stopped supplying power to DEPZ. Since then, the Rural Electrification Board has been powering the factories.
He confirmed that all factories within DEPZ were operational on Sunday and Monday.
When asked about power shortages and load shedding, he added, “It’s too early to say, I can comment on it after a few more days. For now, REB is fulfilling our demand. We need 45 megawatts in peak hours, and we are receiving that.”
Akhtaruzzaman described a similar situation, saying there is no electricity shortage within DEPZ. They have supplied the factories with 80 megavolt-amperes in two phases, and they are all currently in operation.
He also noted the ongoing work to install a new transformer to support additional load.
“DEPZ had a demand of 45 megawatts of electricity, and we have fully met that demand,” he said.
On Apr 29, speaking on the shutdown of the power plant, United Power Plant manager Momtaz Hasan said: “Our senior officials are speaking with both BEPZA and Titas Gas to resolve the issue.”
