Bangladesh has begun a new plan to address its ongoing energy crisis. Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Thursday unveiled the proposed national budget for 2026-27, with a clear strategy: to produce more clean energy and fuel locally and stop depending on costly imports.
The concept is to revamp the way the country generates electricity to tackle two big problems, like frequent power cuts and huge national debt.
The push for clean energy
The biggest highlight of the new budget is a long-term promise to protect the environment. The government wants to generate 20% of the country’s electricity from renewable sources, like the sun and wind, by 2030. By 2050, they hope to increase this figure to 50 per cent.
To do so, the government will support more rooftop solar panels and build large solar power farms. Furthermore, They are looking into wind power near the coast and ways to turn waste into electricity.
However, adding solar and wind power to the grid can be tricky because the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. To fix these issues, the government is creating a “National Energy Storage Roadmap". This means they will build large battery systems to store clean energy so people can use it whenever they need it. They are also asking factories to use modern, energy-saving machines so they waste less power.
Producing more fuel at home
While clean energy is the future, Bangladesh still needs traditional fuels right now to keep businesses running. To protect the country from high global fuel prices, the government plans to build a “strategic fuel reserve”—a large backup supply of energy for emergencies.
Instead of buying expensive oil and gas from other countries, Bangladesh will focus on finding more gas both on land and in the sea.
The government is also upgrading how it processes oil. They plan to build a massive new oil refinery near the coast in Chattogram, capable of handling 50 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil. Another project, the second unit of the Eastern Refinery, will handle 30 lakh metric tonnes.
To move this fuel quickly and cheaply, the government will fully use its 600-kilometre pipeline network. They are also starting the Single Point Mooring (SPM) system, a special pipeline in the ocean that allows large ships to unload oil directly to the shore, saving a lot of time and money.
Mining for coal and valuable minerals
To make sure the country has enough building materials and power, the government aims to produce 6 lakh tonnes of coal and 14 lakh tonnes of stone in the coming year. They are expanding the Barapukuria coal mine and starting work on the Dighipara coal field.
Interestingly, the government is also testing the sand in the Jamuna and Meghna rivers for valuable minerals like zircon and monazite. Finding and selling these rare materials could bring new money into the country.
Fixing past financial mistakes
The Finance Minister did not hold back when talking about the past. He strongly criticised the previous government for making bad deals that cost the country heavily.
He pointed out “capacity charges”—a system where private power plants were paid huge amounts of money even when they weren’t producing any electricity. Because of these expensive contracts and the high cost of imported fuel, the government had to spend over Tk 40,000 crore this year just to keep electricity prices from rising too high for normal people.
To stop fuel theft and improve transparency, the government has already installed a smart tracking system on over 2,700 fuel trucks.
By building solar power, finding its own gas, and stopping money leaks, Bangladesh hopes this new budget will finally provide cheap, reliable power for everyone.
