250 factories to get gas next year
Units selected from over 2,500 applications
Shahed Siddique
After about two years, the government has approved more than 250 industrial gas connections amid growing demand from the business community.
The aim is to give a boost to the economy, but the connections will be given after March 2018, when imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be added to the national grid, Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power and energy, told The Independent.
Hamid hinted that there would be a possible price hike of gas after imported LNG entered the Bangladesh market. After the imported LNG is injected into the national grid, the price will certainly go up, and this will pose a challenge for the business enterprises. The question is will they be ready to pay more for the costly gas, he said.
Sources in the power and energy ministry said the list of the approved applications for industrial gas connections would be published any time on Petrobanglas website.
The sources said a committee, headed by the Prime Ministers energy adviser, Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, had initially approved a list of 280 applications, but it was later reduced to a little over 250.
After the primary approval, an intelligence agency had visited all the sites of the 280 industries to assess their need for gas. The assessors worked on the basis of criteria set by the government. After getting their assessment report, the primary list was reduced, a Petrobangla official said on condition of anonymity.
It has become a sensitive issue, as many big business houses were dropped from the list after verification by the intelligence agency. So the list will be published after being shown the green signal by policymakers, the official added.
According to sources in the Energy Division, more than 2,500 industries had applied for gas connections in the past three to five years. But the high-powered committee, headed by Chowdhury, made a shortlist by considering the applicants need for gas and their possible contribution to the economy after getting the connections.
There was no industrial gas connection inthe country for the past 5 years, a state of affairs that runs counter to the demands of a booming economy like ours. This resulted in negative growth of the export-oriented garment sector, the main Forex earner, Mohammed Nasir, first vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told The Independent.
On July 12, 2015, the Chowdhury-led committee had instructed gas distribution companies to give connections to more than 354 new industrial units. But, till now, only about 100 industrial establishments have been connected.
Sources said the remaining 250 units from the 2015 list would be given priority over newly approved for gas connections.
The approved industries need more than 150 MMCF of gas, which is not available right now, and so the governments policy is go slow with the connections. Its, therefore, most unlikely that any connections will be given before next winter, an official said.
The country now produces 2,700 MMCF of gas per day against a demand for more than 3,300 MMCF. But the situation would ease after the imported LNG is injected into the national grid next year.
