As per vision to provide electricity for all by 2021, the government has taken various challenging initiatives and has given utmost importance to improve power sector as a whole. The power division has prepared a master plan (PSMP 2010) to develop the power sector.

sumers to satisfy their needs. To improve the management and services of the power sector, power division has taken initiatives under Power Sector Capacity Development Program (PSCDP).

Power Sector Capacity Development Program : An Overview of its activities
Power Sector Capacity Development Program (PSCDP) had designed to implement in power sector under the umbrella of Sustainable Energy  Development Program that jointly financed by the Asian Development Bank(ADB)  and Government of Bangladesh (GOB).The program was commenced in July 2007 and ended in June 2014.

The objectives of this program are as follows:

Major Objective
The objective of the PSCDP is to enhance institutional resources of the power sector to improve utility performance and promote sustainable operations. And  as well as installing Training Equipment and Power Plant Simulator in Gorashal Training Center, BPDP for its development  towards a centre of excellence in the power sector of Bangladesh.

Specific  Objectives

• To provide local and foreign training to the personnel of different utilities under power Division by engaging an international training management consulting firm
• To procure training equipment for extending training facility of the Gorashal Training Center, BPDB
• To procure a power plant simulator to train power sector personnel on operation and maintenance of power plant

The physical activities of the program could not commence timely because of a significant time was elapsed in utilizing of loan fund at the beginning of the project. As per loan contract, Government of Bangladesh (GOB) had to provide 20% matching fund for the utilization of ADB's proposed loan. But Planning Commission did not agree to approve the proposed amount of GOB fund at the beginning of the project. Finally Planning Commission gave their approval on this project. But the project is delayed by 2 years for giving various explanation on ADB loan covenant and obligation of providing GOB fund as matching fund.

In 2010 the Project Management Unit (PMU) was reshuffled along with Project Director. The new project team was committed to achieve their goal under the dynamic leadership of the Project Director. The project team did the hard work to comply the prerequisites of the components of PSCDP. At this stage they completed the following works:

• Revision of TPP
• Appointment of National Consultant
• Approval  from Top Management to start the local training program
• Nomination of focal points from different Utilities

After getting approval from top management, PMU started local training from Oct/2010 utilizing GOB fund and completed on June /2014. The PMU was supposed to provide local training to 4336 personnel on 48 modules in 8 different fields. But due to dynamic leadership and hard team work, the PMU was able to impart local training to 4446 personnel of power sector, which is 2.3% higher than the target.

Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) was awarded the contract on 21 November 2012   for imparting overseas training of the 335 personnel of power sector in 23 module covering 8 fields such as good governance, information technology, technical and non-technical. The time schedule provided to AIT was very tight and limited. The following strategies were adopted to complete the overseas program on time:

• Follow the prepared overseas guidelines for selection of participantsPrimary selection of participants were given by the concerned Utilities
• Training programs were divided into four quarters
• Strong coordination was ensured among concerned stakeholders
• Cross functional team work
• Final selection of participants were given quarterly basis
• Strong Monitoring and control
• SMART Action Plan

The following strategies enabled PSCDP to   provide overseas training program on 29 modules to 389 participants instead of 335, which is 16% higher than the target.  

One of the major objective of PSCDP was to complete local and overseas training program in limited time schedule. But due to cross functional team work, commitment  of team members under the participatory leadership management style, PSCDP enabled to achieve more than the actual target fixed for both local and overseas training program. This enabled PSCD to reach the milestone for providing training to over 4500 personnel of power sector. This effort was appreciated by Asian Development Bank.

The following methodology was used for imparting local and overseas training program.

Procurement of Training Equipment was another hard assignment for PSCDP. Because there was no any responsive bidders in the first international bidding process. In this context, PMU had to consider the following issues:

• Review the scope of the work
• Review the technical specification
• Review the official estimate
• Consult with design unit of BPDB
• Arrange stakeholder meetings

These approached helped PSCDP to procure the training equipment in three lots under revised scope and timely completion of testing, installation & commissioning of training equipment at Training Center, BPDB, Ghorashal   on December 27, 2013.

Procurement of Power Plant Simulator (PPS) was another tough and complex assignment for PSCDP. Firstly, PMU made contract with Bureau of Research, Testing and Consultation (BRTC), BUET as technical consultant for Procurement of PPS on April 09, 2011. The EEE department of BUET prepared the technical specification, financial estimate and tender document of PPS. After completing different due process, the PMU made contract with M/S Western Services Corporation (WSC), Fredric, Maryland, USA on December 30, 2012 for procurement of Power Plant Simulator.

The installation and commissioning work of Power Plant Simulator in Gorashal training Center, BPDB was done by WSC on 4 December 2013 before the loan closing date 30 December 2013.The PPS has got the following capacity ranges from 50 MW to 350 MW and it can operate by Gas, Coal and Oil.

ADB provided 5 Million US$ to PSCDP to complete its different procurement works. But PSCDP utilized 3.89 Million US$ in its different procurement works due to the lesser amount quoted by the bidders. PSCDP proposed ADB to utilize its unspent money by providing additional overseas training and procuring training equipment. But ADB did not give the approval to PSCDP. The overall implementation scenario of PSCDP is presented below:

The another remarkable objective of PSCDP was to develop Gorashal Training Center, BPDP as center of excellence in the power sector by installing  training equipment, power plant simulator and IT equipment before loan closing date.

These added capability would facilitate Gorashal Training Center, BPDB to provide different training module on operation and maintenance of power plants and training equipment for the development of power sector. This training center also got the testing facility to test different materials, hot spot, solar panel etc. These effort also added a new window in Gorashal Training Center, BPDP, to generate revenue and development of human resource by providing training and testing facility to the private sectors concerned.

Finally, on 20 March 2014, the opening ceremony of Audio Visual training on PPS and testing lab in Ghorasal Training Center, BPDB was inaugurated by hon'ble State Minister, Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources. He appreciated the hard work and initiatives of PSCDP Project Team and provided valuable suggestions regarding sustainability of the same.

Inaugural Ceremony of ‘Audio-Visual Training Program of PPS’ on 20 March,2014

Finally, PSCDP team became able to successfully complete all of its physical activities utilizing available resources economically, efficiently and effectively within scheduled time.

MILESTONES ACHIEVED BY PSCDP

• Contract signing with Bureau of Research, Testing and Consultation (BRTC), BUET as technical consultant for Procurement of Power Plant simulator (PPS): dated on April 09, 2011.
• Contract signing of International Training Management Consultant firm AIT, Thailand-DDC-JV: dated on November21, 2012.
• Contract signing of Power Plant Simulator with M/S WSC, Fredric, Maryland, USA: dated on December 30, 2012.
• Completion of testing, installation & commissioning of training equipment at Ghorashal: dated on December 27, 2013
• Imparting overseas training by time bound SMART action plan: provided overseas training program on 29 modules to 389 participants instead of 335, which is 16% higher than the target
• Imparting Local training by time bound SMART action plan: provided local training to 4446 personnel of power sector instead of 4336, which is 2.3% higher than the target

ADDITIONAL INITIATIVE TAKEN BY PSCDP

Monitoring local training of different utilities of power division and help to attain their set target.

PSCDP program also supervise and monitor the entire training program organized by different utilities of power sector. Also it fixed the training Man-hour 20 hrs for fiscal year 2009-2010, then in fiscal year 2010-2011 the target changed to 40 Man-hrs.  Later it is revised to 50 Man-hr and 60 Man-hr for fiscal year 2011-2012 & 2012-2013 respectively. In the present fiscal year the target remains same. This project also performs evaluation and gap analysis of the capacity development initiated by different utilities. Due to the efficient and SMART action plan taken by PSCDP, it becomes possible to achieve the training target successfully by all utilities of power sector.

Organized Sector leader Workshop on 11 May 2011

The main objective of Sector leader Workshop were:

• Disseminate the implementation plan of Power Sector Master Plan: 2010 to different Ministries and different department concerned
• Create awareness of cooperation among different Ministries and different department concerned for achieving goals of power Sector
• Create cross functional team
• Find out the strengths and weakness of the Utilities concerned and developing plan to overcome the weakness noticed

Organized local training for the employees of Power Division for utilization of   its revenue fund

PSCDP organized a number of local training on PPR 2008 & PPA 2006, office management and Staff development courses for employees of power division. In 2010-2011 total 50 no of participants received these training. In 2011-2012 & 2013-2014 total 15 & 40 No of participants have received this training respectively.

There are other initiatives for capacity improvement in power sector. Use of ICT is one of them. The major initiatives in ICT are:

1. Bill payment through mobile phone and internet
2. Store management system for the power plants
3. Complaint management system for the distribution utilities
4. E-Filing and file tracking system
5. Web based project monitoring and evaluation system
6. Performance based monitoring system of the utilities
7. E-Accounting system
8. Introduction of ERP in power sector
9. On-line application for electrical connection system