Staff Reporter :Business leaders on Wednesday urged the government to provide with gas and electricity connections to the industrial units for accelerating factory output and economic growth.They made the call through a press conference held in the headquarters of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) in the capital.”Industries are unable to go on full production due to lack of uninterrupted power and gas. On the other hand, many factories are yet to go for operation in absence of gas and electricity connection,” Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President of FBCCI told it at the conference.The FBCCI president pointed out that entrepreneurs set up a good number of big textile and garment units in the last few years. Gas transmission and distribution companies have already issued demand notes against the industrial units to provide gas connections to them. But the companies are yet to honour their demand notes. “They are now simply sitting idle and incurring huge financial losses due to lack of gas connection,” he added.Abdul Matlub Ahmad demanded gas connections to the industrial units by August this year. The FBCCI leader further said, many industries are being run through using captive power generator which only increases the production cost. The government must ensure adequate gas and electricity supply to industries so that they can run with full capacity and reduce their cost of production. He also urged the government to ensure uninterrupted electricity and gas supply to the export-oriented garment and textile industries on priority basis. “The government has already taken a number of positive initiatives to meet the power demand of industrial sector. But, the sector is yet to receive the required power supply that it needs to utilize it’s full capacity,” he said. Abdul Matlub Ahmad further said that there was no alternative to ensuring smooth and uninterrupted power and gas supplies to industries in order to continue the existing production and promote investment. While speaking at the press conference, former FBCCI President AK Azad said, the concerned authorities have issued demands note against 70-80 industrial units. Of them, only 8-10 industrial units have been given gas connections. Rest of them waits for the connections for years, he added. The former FBCCI leader also said that industrial units across the country are facing power and gas crisis that is affecting their production.”The continued energy crisis has forced most industrial units to curtail their production significantly suffering huge losses to the industrial entrepreneurs” he added.Former FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, President of the International Chambers of Commerce, Bangladesh (ICCB) Mahbubur Rahman, FBCCI Vice-President Mahbubul Alam were present, among others, at the press conference.
