The country can add 300-500 mmcf fresh gas per day to the national grid from the existing gas fields taking a vigorous augmentation plan, local experts claimed, reports BSS.

"At present, the country is able to produce 1,850-1,900 mmcf gas per day against the demand of 2,100 mmcf, but it could produce another 300-500 mmcf every day and increase its proven reserve to four TCF from two TCF taking the vigorous systematic plan," former director of Petrobangla Maqbul-e-Elahi said.

The local experts at a seminar in the city also said Thursday indecision of the policymakers and improper appreciation of the national needs and realities by development partners had jeopardised the smooth development of the energy sector of the country.

They blamed the policymakers for lacking an understanding of the national goal and time value, and cautioned them that if the mindset of the policymakers would not change then they would not be able to feed the energy sector to fulfil the government's election pledge to make the country "Digital Bangladesh by 2021."

"If we fail to ensure energy security, it would not be possible to attain the aspiration of the people. It is expected that the government should make an attempt to assess the actual need of the present and future demand of energy in order to reach the targeted goal in time," Maqbul said.

He said after mid-80s some unforseen happening, mismanagement and lack of initiative in petroleum exploration made the sector suffer a heavy setback and this has ultimately led to the sever energy crisis in the recent years.

He made this remarks at the national seminar on "Energy: Issues, Challenges and Options for Bangladesh", organised by Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS).

Maqbul-e-Elahi and Project Director of Rooppur Nuclear Plant of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission Md Shawkat Akbar have separately presented papers on "Energy issue in Bangladesh" and "Nuclear energy in Bangladesh: Opportunities and challenges" respectively.

Adviser to the Prime Minister Tawfiq-e-Ealhi Chowdhury told the seminar that the government had taken some short-term, mid-term and long-term initiatives to address the nagging energy crisis.

Dr Akbar said, "Nuclear power plant is a big financial challenge for the country as it require US$175 to $117 million for generating 100MW power and this project would be viable when the country would be able to find out an experienced potential country as a partner with proven and safe technology to implement the nuclear power plant by 2016."

Taking part in the discussion, Prof Aminul Haq of BUET said according to the statistics the portion of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP) was decreasing day-by-day and the contribution of the industrial sector was increasing.

The statistics said nowadays the national economy was depending on the industrial sector and the energy was the backbone of industrial growth.

To maximise the recovery of any gas field, re-estimation was a must but unfortunately the energy ministry never took any initiative to re-estimate the reserve of the gas fields, Mahbubur Rahman, a BUET teacher, said.

"The production chart of Petrobangla said national companies are producing less gas than the international oil companies. It would create serious havoc in future days," he said.

Prof Nurul Islam of BUET said if the government would not pay the actual cost to the national gas companies, the financial health of these companies would be worse in coming days.