Nasrul Hamid

Nasrul Hamid (Bipu) (Bengali: নসরুল হামিদ (বিপু) is the current State minister for the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources of the Government of Bangladesh People's Republic of Bangladesh.^[1] He is a member of parliament, his constituency being Dhaka- 3; the larger Keraniganj region & is a member of the Bangladesh Awami League.

Early life

Mr. Nasrul Hamid was born in 13 November 1964. His father Mr. Hamidur Rahman was a prominent figure in the liberation war, and his mother Hasna Hamid was actively into politics. His father was a founding member of the Bangladesh Awami League, and he was elected as a member of the Parliament in 1970. His father was later appointed as the Treasurer of the Awami League, and later elected as a member of the parliament.

Academic Life

He finished his S.S.C from the Residential Model School in 1980, and his H.S.C from the Residential Model college in 1982. He was a stellar student, involved in debating, painting and sports. He received the Principals All Rounder Shield four his outstanding achievements. He was very active in sports, being the team captain of his college’s football and hockey team. He was also the student monitor of college. He enrolled in the Bachelors program in University of Dhaka for Economics in 1983, but opted out to pursue his father’s business after his death. He then went on to complete a course on Accounting and management from the Institution of Business Administration. He later completed a course from the German-Bangla Technical Institute, and a certificate in e-commerce from the Bangladesh Institute of Management. He has a completed a course on leadership titled “Leaders in Development: Managing change in a dynamic world” from the John F. Kennedy School at University of Harvard.

Early career

Nasrul Hamid’s first foray into business came with the death of his father, when he took up the charge of Managing Director of his father’s company, Delco. He worked primarily with Agro-business and Cold Storage. Later, Mr. Hamid started his own venture called Priyoprangon, a property development and real-estate firm, which went on to become very successful. He was one of the founding members Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh or REHAB. He later went on to become the President of REHAB from 3.05.2010 to 11.01.2014.^[2]

Political career

He took primary membership of the Awami League in 1995, being appointed as the General Secretary of the Keraniganj Zilla Awami League. His embittered rival was the Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader, Amanullah Aman. He competed in the General Election 0f 2001, but lost to Aman.

He was elected as the Member of Parliament from Dhaka-3 in 2008, and served as a member of parliament from 2008 to 2013. During this time, he was involved in the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, Committee for Housing and Public Works, among others. In the term of 2013, he was re-elected as a member of parliament, and appointed as the State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources from 13 January 2014. He was preceded by Mr. Enamul Haque. His addition to the Ministry bought a robustness which was in line with the vision 2021. As a State Minister, he envisioned and/or expedited a plethora of organizational and technical changes. Some of his most notable innovations are

• Power output of Bangladesh went from 10289 MW to 14539 MW • Gas Production Increased from 2300 MMCFD to 2740 MMCFD • Massive restructuring in the transmission lines • Increase in customer focus in distribution companies. Implementation of SCADA system, Underground cable and Increased load on substations • Distribution and use of 4.5 million solar home system, which is the largest off-grid power solution in the world • Implementation of 3 FSRU and small regasification units to alleviate the countries gas crisis • Focus on human resources development for the future through a string of development agencies. Most notable are: Bangladesh petroleum Institute, Bangladesh Power Institute, Energy and Power research council and Bangladesh Power Management Institute • Involving the youth by creating an internship program led by a ministry; a first in Bangladesh • Increasing the capacity of Bangladesh’s Power and Energy companies to enter into the financial markets. • Increasing the prospect of Bangladesh in the international alternative finance markets, notably the bond market.

He is a patron of CRI, Center for Research and Information, Awami League's Research Wing. He is also active as the Member of Parliament in his constituency, implementing many notable developments in infrastructure and governance.

Family

Nasrul Hamid is happily married to Seema Hamid. He has two children, son Zareef and daughter Alifia. He is an avid follower of Arts, Literature and Architecture. He is a comic enthusiast as well, being a huge fan of Superman. His love for comics transcended into the idea of creating a graphic novel about the Father of the Nation of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Widely traveled, Nasrul Hamid enjoys local cuisine and cultural tropes.

References