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Businesses dismayed at imposition of licence fees on captive power plants
12th May, 2008
Top business leaders have expressed deep concern over the public notice of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) for payment of licence fees for the use of captive/stand-by generators above 1 megawatt (MW) and said the requirement for payment of licence fees will hit the country's larger industries hard.
In a joint statement Sunday, the trade body leaders urged the government to immediately intervene into the issue and exempt the users of own captive/stand-by generators from payment of huge amount of licence fees by withdrawing and modifying the public notice.
"We are deeply concerned over the requirement of the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) vide Public Notice No. BERC/Admin-115/1427 dated 10th January 2008 for payment of licence fees with effect from April 30, 2008 for use of captive/stand-by generators beyond 1 MW," they said.
The BERC's requirement for payment of licence fees varying from Tk 0.5 million to Tk 2.5 million per generator, will hit industries across the board, which have to use their own captive/stand-by generators to meet their energy requirements, said the business leaders.
In the current energy crisis, industries which installed generators at a huge cost and use the same much to the relief of the national electricity network, deserve to be provided with policy and other support instead of being penalised by the requirement of payment of licence fees, they added.
Representations made to the BERC for exemption from payment of such licence fees have been turned down on the ground that the law provides for payment of such licence fee, the business leader said adding that efforts have failed to convince the BERC that under section 29 of the Energy Regulatory Commission Act, the commission has been empowered with the authority for giving the exemption. Accordingly, the relevant provision of the regulations should be amended by the commission immediately. The commission has a different view and it takes the cover of procedural requirements for amending the concerned legal provision, they said.
Legal opinions obtained in this regard indicate that the act does not require any amendment. In fact, Section 29 mentions that amendment to the regulations may be made by the commission itself so as to grant the exemption, they said and urged the government to intervene in the issue urgently and if required, amend the act at the earliest.
The trade body leaders said the power shortage in the country is well-known. But for the use of captive/stand-by generators, many of the larger industries would have either closed down or suffered huge production losses. In any such eventuality, thousands of workers would have been laid off and the government exchequer would have lost huge amount of revenue, they added.
The signatories to the statement were president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (BFCCI) Annisul Huq, president of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)-Bangladesh Mahbubur Rahman, president of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Latifur Rahman, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Hossain Khaled, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) Anwar-Ul-Alam Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) Md. Fazlul Hoque, president of Bangladesh Textiles Mills Association (BTMA) Abdul Hai Sarker and president of Bangladesh Aushad Shilpa Samity (BASS) S.M. Shafiuzzaman.
Release link:
http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/search_index.php?page=detail_news&news_id=33337
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