A proposal has been made to raise Tk. 43,000 crore from the capital market to generate 15,000MW of power within seven years. The president of the ICMAB (Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh) presented the proposal to the state minister for power, energy and mineral resources, Nasrul Hamid, MPs and other distinguished guests at a conference titled “Financing power projects of Bangladesh through capital market” at Dhaka Club in the capital on Sunday.   
“Power is the most vital thing for development of a country. The country currently produces 14,077MW. But we are planning to generate 15,000MW of power in the near future. For this, we need Tk. 43,000 crore. We must depend on self-financing and donor agencies to raise the funds,” said Ahasanul Islam Titu, president of the DSE Brokerage Association of Bangladesh. “Self-financing will certainly focus on our capital market. Money can be raised through equity or debt market,” he added.   
“The power sector is undoubtedly in a better position now compared to what it was eight years ago. We are currently producing close to 15,000MW of power. Natural gas has been depleting significantly over the past few years and that is the biggest challenge that we will face in the near future, so we need to focus on other resources as well,” said Arif Khan, MD of IDLC Finance Ltd.
“Currently, the private sector contributes 46 per cent to the power sector. We need USD 25 billion to make this entire project feasible. Our banking system raises 90 per cent capital to fund any project, but the capital market’s contribution is very low. We have raised Tk. 32 billion from the capital market since 2013. So, there is a huge opportunity here. Out of 300 companies, only 19 power generation firms are listed in the capital market. We need more companies to be listed,” he added “In all, 19.8 per cent of foreign aid is currently used in the power sector. We should depend less on foreign aid and focus more on self-financing,” said Khairul Hossain, chairman of the BSEC.
“We’ve signed agreements worth USD 12 billion in the power sector for the past three years. An agreement worth USD 350 million has already signed to develop the Sirajganj power plant. Now, I am planning to make a foray into the Singapore capital market to raise funds,” said Nasrul Hamid. “To regain confidence in the capital market, we need to brand ourselves in the international market. And we must generate 7,000 MW of power to make Bangladesh a middle-income country,” he added.