With investments worth $300 million in renewable energy getting stuck, Bangladesh faces hard time in attracting foreign direct investment in energy transition, said the Centre for Policy Dialogue on Monday.
In a discussion organised by the local think tank in the capital Dhaka, it also urged the interim government to remove obstacles to foreigners making investments.
The investments got stuck after the interim government, which assumed office after the fall of the authoritarian Awami League regime past year, cancelled all 31 renewable energy projects taken by the ousted AL government without tender.
Solar power capacity of 3,287 megawatts was supposed to be built under the 31 projects worth $6 billion, which had obtained letters of intent from the past AL government after spending years in arranging land and making other arrangements required for the projects, the CPD said.
鈥楾he government needs to review the cancelled projects, allowing the viable ones the chance to go ahead,鈥� said Khondaker Golam Moazzem, research director at the CPD.
At least 15 of the projects went to the stage of buying land and funds were transferred to Bangladesh, which became a huge burden for the land and money remained unused, said the keynote paper presented at the discussion.
The discussion on addressing institutional challenges in investing in renewable energy projects, considering the Chinese case of investment, revealed that China owned four of the cancelled solar power projects of 450MW.
The other owners of the cancelled projects included the Asian Development Bank, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France and Norway.
Investors also urged the government to reveal information on corruption that might have convinced it to take such a sweeping decision to cancel all the renewable energy projects.
鈥楤angladesh should focus on removing obstacles than giving incentives to foreign direct investments,鈥� said Moazzem, urging the government to follow the UN Trade and Development standards to facilitate FDIs.
Open tenders may not necessarily imply full transparency given the complex approval process required to be navigated for a company to open its operation and implement a renewable energy project in Bangladesh, said the CPD.
The think tank suggested that the existing registration process be simplified and completely digitalised while the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority should open a desk to help investors understand what Bangladesh has to offer to them in their own languages.
Chinese Enterprises Association in Bangladesh president Han Kun said that their investors were greatly discouraged from making further investments in Bangladesh for reasons such as taking the move to renegotiate tariffs of power plants such as the 1,320MW Patuakhali power plant and the 1,320MW SS power plant.
鈥楾he move manifests the presence of high unpredictability in Bangladesh, which may undermine long-term investment prospect,鈥� said Han Kun.
Issues like delay in paying bills and currency volatility also serve as an impetus to discouraging investors from making any investments in Bangladesh.
The CEAB has 270 members, 60 per cent of whom work in the infrastructure sector.
Bangladesh Investment Development Authority business development head Nahian Rahman Rochi said that the government was planning to build solar power plants in economic zones.
China is one of the largest investors in Bangladesh with $2.65 billion invested, which was over 15 per cent of total FDIs in 2024, the CPD said.
China鈥檚 investment in the renewable energy sector is over 50 per cent.
Among others, the discussion was also attended by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission chairman Jalal Ahmed.
