Bangladesh Tries Moving its Clocks to Save Power

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had promised before her December election to address the nation`s power crisis, often the cause of protests.

Bangladesh will move its clocks one hour forward from midnight for the first time to use more daylight time and save electricity.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had promised before her December election to address the nation's power crisis, often the cause of protests.

With the move Bangladesh Standard Time will be GMT +7 hours instead of GMT +6 hours.

The government estimates that 250 megawatts of electricity a day could be saved by using more natural light in the evening.

The daylight saving measure will end on October 1. From 2010 on clocks will be set an hour ahead on April 1 and go back on October 1.

The densely populated, impoverished country has a daily shortfall of 2,000 MW power against demand for 5,000 MW. Officials have said the shortfall will reach 8,000 MW a day by 2011.

Bangladesh's decades-old power plants are mostly fuelled by gas, but reserves are depleting. It faces a shortage of up to 250 million cubic feet of gas a day.

The government has temporarily closed down several fertiliser plants to divert the natural gas they use to generate more electricity.

Only 45 percent of Bangladesh's 150 million people have access to power. The government says it is exploring various means, including nuclear power generation, to overcome the problem, which is one of the key constraints to growth.

Frequent power failures cut gross domestic product by around $1 billion annually, the World Bank has said, and Bangladesh will need $1.5 billion annual investment for power generation and transmission, and natural gas exploration.

The 1.14 trillion taka ($16.5 billion) budget for the coming fiscal year, beginning on July 1, allocated 43.10 billion taka ($625 million) for the power and energy sector, 48 percent higher than the current budget.