UNB, Brahmanbaria :
Low pressure of gas which disrupts its supply from the gas fields of the country’s eastern zone to Dhaka, Khulna and Rajshahi is expected to ease soon as the construction of two gas compressor stations in Brahmanbaria and Tangail has been completed.
Sources at the state-owned Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the stations any day this month as the commissioning of the compressor stations – one at Ashuganj in Brahmanbaria and another at Elenga in Tangail – has also been done.
The construction of the two compressor stations was initiated by GTCL in 2011 under a Tk 1,500 crore project jointly financed by the government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The project is aimed at improving gas supply and removing the crisis of low gas pressure in Dhaka, Khulna and Rajshahi.
Gas extracted from distant gas fields in the eastern region of the country is supplied through two pipelines to the Ashuganj Manifold Station of GTCL, and then to Brahmanbaria, Dhaka, Chittagong and Rajshahi regions through four pipelines, but it cannot be supplied at the expected rate due to low gas pressure.
At consumer level, the standard gas pressure is expected to remain around 1,000 psi (pound per square inch), but it gets lower than 700 psi near Ashuganj as it is pumped through the gridlines coming from Titas and Habiganj gas fields in Brahmanbaria.
The gas pressure reduces further below 500-600 psi near Dhaka, and below 400 psi near Khulna and Rajshahi, leading to huge crisis at consumer level in the regions.
