South Asia
Private power: Small, 10-15 megawatt power plants, will now be installed across Bangladesh by the private sector. A proposal to this effect was passed by Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia on July 16, 2005. Media reports quoted a highly placed source saying that the power ministry is going to invite tenders soon.
In 1996, the government had adopted a policy permitting private participation in the power sector, but it contained a clause of mobilising foreign financing, which couldn't be met by local entrepreneurs. As per the new plan, 20 power plants will be set up under private ownership of Bangladeshi entrepreneurs at specific locations in 12 districts under build-own-operate terms. The Power Development Board, Rural Electrification Board, Dhaka Electric Supply Authority and Dhaka Electric Supply Company will buy electricity from these plants for the national grid, to cut down the acute power shortage in the country.
No study aid: Nepal's volatile political situation has dealt another blow to the country's poor, this time students. The European Commission (EC) recently decided to suspend about US $30 million aid to the country's Education for All (EFA) 2004-2009 programme. "What changed after February 1 [2005] was that due to the new political situation, we have been reviewing our cooperation with Nepal
Related Content
- South Asia macro poverty outlook 2024: country-by-country analysis and projections for the developing world
- Addressing the impact of climate change on women farmers’ health in South Asia
- Urgency of heatwave risk management
- Comparative study of carbon rights in the context of jurisdictional REDD+: case studies from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean
- Fossil fuel subsidies and GHG emissions: firm-level empirical evidence from developing Asia
- Global status report on road safety 2023