Ministry seeks tax exemption for private power projects for four years more:Daily Sun

  The private-sector power sponsors are likely to enjoy tax exemption facility for another four years till 2018 as the government is considering extending the facility for the independent power producers (IPPs). State minister for power and energy Nasrul Hamid has already sent a demo official (DO) letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md Ghulam Hossain to consider the issue. In th
e DO, the state minister said most of the private power projects would not get any benefit from the tax facility that has been offered in the current SRO no-211. Issued on July 1, 2013, the Statutory Regulatory Order (SRO) said the private power generation companies (except coal based power generation companies) which will start commercial production from 01 January 2015 will enjoy the tax exemption facility. The state minister in his letter said most of the IPP power projects in the pipeline won’t be able to commission within 2014. The government had introduced the tax exemption facilities through the private sector power generation policy 1996 to encourage private-sector electricity generation. The government has a master plan to take the country’s electricity generation to 24,000MW by 2021 and to 40,000MW by 2030. “For meeting the growing electricity demand in the country, it’s necessary to continue the SRO 211 facilities up to December, 2018,” state minister Nasrul Hamid in his DO letter said. Only two independent power projects (IPPs) have been commissioned so far though deals for 14 IPPs were signed under the Power and Energy Fast Supply Enhancement (Special Provision) Act, officials concerned said. The government undertook these projects between 2010 and 2013 to get quick electricity to meet local demand, but failed to get desired electricity from these projects due to delay in the projects implementation.