UNB, Dhaka :
Despite its determination to start replacing gas connections to all the households across the country with LPG, the Energy Division is now in trouble to turn down a proposal from Petrobangla to install 22 lakh new metres.
According to sources at the Energy Division, they have a plan to start replacing all the household gas connections with LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) within the next few years considering the fast depletion of the country’s natural gas.
But, the Prime Minister’s Office, meanwhile, has come up with an instruction that the household consumers must have meters for their gas connections.
In compliance with this instruction, the Energy Division has taken a project to install 2,60,000 gas metres for household consumers in Dhaka and Chittagong cities spending Tk 978 crore.
With financial support from Japan’s international donor agency JICA, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company is installing 2,00,000 metres in Dhaka and its adjoining areas at a cost of Tk 712 crore while Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company is installing 60,000 metres in Chittagong involving Tk 266 crore.
In line with the ongoing gas metering project, Petrobangla has initiated another move to install 22 lakh more new metres in Dhaka and other urban areas of which 15 lakh metres have been proposed to be installed in Titas Gas areas.
Taking requisitions from different gas distribution companies, Petrobangla has sent a proposal to the Energy Division for approval. It has proposed to set up the new metres with financial support from different donor agencies, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and JICA, according to the sources.
This new project involves a cost of Tk 9,000 crore while installation of each metre will cost about Tk 45,000 which the consumer will pay through long- term installments over 20 years.
This new proposal has put the Energy Ministry into a trouble to take decision and give go-ahead. If it approves Petrobangla’s new metering project, it will be pointless exercise as all these metres will become useless within the next the few years when the pipeline gas will get depleted, forcing consumers to consume LPG, the sources added.
A senior official at the Energy Division said they have already prepared a strategy paper and action plan to move to LPG use from the pipeline use. As per the plan, at least 70 percent of replacement will be done by the next 3-4 years and it will start either in 2016 or in 2017.
But the replacement of piped gas by LPG is a very complicated issue as it involves a huge task, the official said adding that before moving to LPG, the bottled-gas has to be popularised by rationalizing the price of piped gas and that of LPG.
“So, putting a pragmatic pricing formula in place for LPG is the first step towards this plan,” said the Energy Ministry official adding that the government has already moved towards that as a committee was formed to chalk out the formula.
Secondly, he said, the government has already stopped giving new household gas connections. “In such a situation, Petrobangla’s proposal has come to us as a contradictory plan.”
He dropped a hint that the Energy Division will seek top policymakers’ advice to take a decision in this regard.
Despite its determination to start replacing gas connections to all the households across the country with LPG, the Energy Division is now in trouble to turn down a proposal from Petrobangla to install 22 lakh new metres.
According to sources at the Energy Division, they have a plan to start replacing all the household gas connections with LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) within the next few years considering the fast depletion of the country’s natural gas.
But, the Prime Minister’s Office, meanwhile, has come up with an instruction that the household consumers must have meters for their gas connections.
In compliance with this instruction, the Energy Division has taken a project to install 2,60,000 gas metres for household consumers in Dhaka and Chittagong cities spending Tk 978 crore.
With financial support from Japan’s international donor agency JICA, Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company is installing 2,00,000 metres in Dhaka and its adjoining areas at a cost of Tk 712 crore while Karnaphuli Gas Distribution Company is installing 60,000 metres in Chittagong involving Tk 266 crore.
In line with the ongoing gas metering project, Petrobangla has initiated another move to install 22 lakh more new metres in Dhaka and other urban areas of which 15 lakh metres have been proposed to be installed in Titas Gas areas.
Taking requisitions from different gas distribution companies, Petrobangla has sent a proposal to the Energy Division for approval. It has proposed to set up the new metres with financial support from different donor agencies, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and JICA, according to the sources.
This new project involves a cost of Tk 9,000 crore while installation of each metre will cost about Tk 45,000 which the consumer will pay through long- term installments over 20 years.
This new proposal has put the Energy Ministry into a trouble to take decision and give go-ahead. If it approves Petrobangla’s new metering project, it will be pointless exercise as all these metres will become useless within the next the few years when the pipeline gas will get depleted, forcing consumers to consume LPG, the sources added.
A senior official at the Energy Division said they have already prepared a strategy paper and action plan to move to LPG use from the pipeline use. As per the plan, at least 70 percent of replacement will be done by the next 3-4 years and it will start either in 2016 or in 2017.
But the replacement of piped gas by LPG is a very complicated issue as it involves a huge task, the official said adding that before moving to LPG, the bottled-gas has to be popularised by rationalizing the price of piped gas and that of LPG.
“So, putting a pragmatic pricing formula in place for LPG is the first step towards this plan,” said the Energy Ministry official adding that the government has already moved towards that as a committee was formed to chalk out the formula.
Secondly, he said, the government has already stopped giving new household gas connections. “In such a situation, Petrobangla’s proposal has come to us as a contradictory plan.”
He dropped a hint that the Energy Division will seek top policymakers’ advice to take a decision in this regard.
