Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Chairman AR Khan on Thursday said they will take the decision as soon as possible on the gas-price hike proposals.
“We can’t say right now whether the gas price will go up or down. But, we’ll thoroughly analyse every point and argument placed here and then we’ll take our decision in a quick manner,” he said.
While addressing the concluding session of the public hearing on the proposals, the watchdog chief, however, said the decision will have to be taken within 90 days of the public hearing as per the law.
The public hearing began on August 7 and continued for eight working days when stakeholders were heard on the proposals placed by the state-owned gas companies, including Petrobangla, Titas, GTCL and Bapex.
On the concluding day, Petrobangla placed its proposal to raise the gas price by an average of 94.2 percent although the technical evaluation committee of the BERC did not find any justification to entertain this proposal as Petrobangla has an untilused gas development fund (GDF) of Tk 2,700 crore which it kept with banks as FDR. However, Petrobangla sought the gas price hike to pay the government Tk 140 crore as VAT and tax every month and also to make the payment to the international oil companies against the purchase of gas. Currently, Petrobangla is paying Tk 70 crore for this purpose a month.
But as per the new order of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), about 83 percent of its income will now go to the government exchequer as VAT and supplementary duties.
Analysing the proposal, adviser of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Prof Shamsul Alam said if the Petrobangla’s proposal is accepted, the BERC has to allow it to pay Tk 840 crore to the government exchequer as VAT and supplementary duty.
“Finally, the Petrobangla has to collect an additional amount of Tk 8,000 crore from the consumers through raising gas price to comply with the NBR order,” he added.
Petrobangla officials also admitted the matter, saying they have to abide by the NBR order as per the law.
Taking part in the debate, Prof Nurul Islam said the financial calculation system of Petrobangla is based on a wrong method. He said it is a wrong idea to fix the retail price of gas before fixing its bulk price.
CPB leader Ruhin Hossain Price said all the state-owned companies failed to justify their gas price hike proposals. Now, if the gas price is increased, it will create unrest in the society which will put the government into trouble. “If the gas price is hiked in such a situation, we’ll not sit idle.
We’ve already taken to the street to protest against any such move.”
During the hearing, it was alleged that the government has appointed foreign companies in the Bapex franchise areas to drill gas wells at a double cost keeping the local exploration body idle despite its huge capacity.
