The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Chief Adviser Special Assistant for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Prof M Tamim yesterday disclosed that no further household and industrial gas connections would be given in Dhaka and Chittagong due to production shortfall, which has now reached at an alarming proportion.

"We'll provide gas connections only to those consumers who applied for gas in Dhaka and Chittagong earlier," he said, adding that "gas connections for domestic users should also be restricted in district towns also."

He was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on 'Current Power Sector Scenario and Strategy for Development Initiatives,' organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at its conference centre in the city.

"Time has come to prioritise how to use natural gases," he cautioned.

Hearing the remarks of the CA Special Assistant's a pall of gloom descended on the industrialists and businessmen attending the seminar. Most of them also expressed their utter frustration when they learnt that the government had become unable to provide further gas connections in Dhaka and Chittagong.

However, the FBCCI president called upon the government to take quick decision on the country's coal reserve.

"Uses of natural gas for CNG-driven vehicles and industrial purposes should get the top priority," he added.

He further said that the country's gas reserve is depleting fast because the last explorations in the country's gas fields were carried out in 1999, more than nine years from now.

The sources of Petrobangla said the reserve of the extracting capacity of gas is now between 28.619 tcf (probable) and 20.63 tcf, which is likely to be exhausted by 2011.

"Right now Bangladesh needs US$4 billion to invest for exploration of new gas fields," Tamim said.

"The government has decided to provide Tk 2000 crore to the state-owned Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration Corporation (BAPEX) to enhance its role as it would be established as an independent institution within seven years."

Prof Tamim said that the businessmen would not face power crisis as the government prioritises the industrial zone for power supply after agriculture.

He said the government is pursuing a go-slow policy in providing new gas connections due to the supply constraints. "We're going slow, that means, we are cautious about the new gas connection,"hesaid.

The country has been experiencing more than 100 mmcf of gas shortage per day for the last couple of years and the crisis in Chittagong is acute.

Expressing his personal opinion, Tamim said that no fresh household gas connection would be provided to any residential areas.

Referring to the power supply situation in the country, Dr Tamim said he is hopeful of the prospects of power sector.

He informed that a 600-800 megawatt nuclear power plant is being planned to reduce the shortage.

In his presentation on Chittagong region's gas supply scenario, Petrobangla chairman Jalal Ahmed made it clear that it would not be possible to provide gas to any new industrial consumer there.

"Certainly, we can't provide gas supply to new consumers in Chittagong," he said.

In an instant reaction, Annisul Huq, president of FBCCI urged the government to consider the decision and said, "Industrialisation will face a serious setback and the whole economy of the country will be badly affected due to gas supply constraints."

"It's a shocking news for businessmen as the government has decided to suspend gas connections to new industrial zones in Chittagong as well as Dhaka," Annisul Huq said, adding, "It would also discourage the new investment as well as halt the industrial growth of the country."

He said that the country's apex chamber body would form a committee to review the whole situation and suggest measures for addressing the problem.

The FBCCI president suggested for quick decision on coal sector development as he found the coal as a good alternative source for power generation to address the nagging electricity crisis.

M Fouzul Kabir Khan, Secretary of Power Division said that the major constrains in power sector were dependency on natural gas, non-transparent procurement, generation, transmission and distribution bottlenecks, weak institutional capacity of power utilizes, power tariff not reflecting costs and limited investments.

M Rezwan Khan, vice chancellor of United International University presented the main keynote paper. He said through Bangladesh is overburdened with a huge population of around 140 million, only a small portion of the whole population have access to electricity. Power generation in the country is heavily dependent on natural gas.

"Generally, a generator unit has an effective life time of around twenty years. In Bangladesh three are generating units that are much older. That is why these units suffer frequent shut down or collapse and need replacement. On the other hand, proper maintenance schedule is not followed, resulting prolong repair time whenever any breakdown occurs," Prof Rezwan said, adding, "Another depressing picture comes out when we look at the heat rate of these age-old machines. The efficiency of the power development board (PDB) generators varies from a low of 22 per cent to a high of 34 per cent. The average efficiency is less than 30 percent. On the other hand, independent power plants (IPP) run their generators at a much higher efficiency with an average of about 36 per cent. This really means that PDB is burning our valuable gas to produce considerably lesser amount of electricity. This is a gross and irresponsible wastage of our national resources."

He observed that Bangladesh urgently needed investment to have increased power production in private sector.

Besides, Prof M Nurul Islam of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, BD Rahmatullah, Jamal Uddin, vice president of BTMA, Monjur Ahmed and among other addressed in the seminar.