Staff Reporter :
The government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed on Thursday a loan agreement for $167 million to improve infrastructure and operational efficiency of the country’s gas sector.
Senior Secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) Mohammad Mejbahuddin and ADB Country Director Kazuhiko Higuchi signed the loan document on behalf of their respective sides.
The total cost of the project will be $453 million, of which the government will finance $226 million from its own source. The Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (ADB) is expected to co-finance the project with an additional $60 million.
Last month, the ADB approved the loan amount to promote sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty in Bangladesh by improving production efficiency of a key gas field north of the capital Dhaka and by expanding transmission infrastructure.
The state-owned Bangladesh Gas Transmission Company Limited (BGTCL) and Bangladesh Gas Fields Company Limited (BGFCL) also inked two project loan deals with the ADB. Under the agreement, the ADB will finance the “Natural Gas Infrastructure and Efficiency Improvement Project”.
The project aims at improving efficiency in natural gas production by installing seven wellhead gas compressors at Titas Gas field and expands natural gas transmission pipeline capacity by constructing a 181-kilometer long and 36-inch parallel gas transmission pipeline from Chittagong through Feni to Bakhrabad.
Chittagong area sometimes suffers from a gas supply shortfall due to full capacity attainment of the existing 175 km long and 24-inch Bakhrabad-Chittagong gas transmission pipeline.
It is expected that increasing gas production of Titas Gas field and installing the new gas transmission pipeline will help improve gas supply to the country’s prime port city and its adjoining areas.
